


The Final Timeline - Before The Storm

by VietnamVet



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Badass Max, Depression, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Two Maxes - One Body
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28478406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VietnamVet/pseuds/VietnamVet
Summary: After countless failed attempts at repeating the Week Of Hell to stop the Storm and avoid those fateful choices up on the lighthouse cliff, Max tries something different. She decides to utilize her newly gained wealth of knowledge about Chloe's years without her by jumping back even futher, to the time when Chloe first ran into the mysterious Rachel Amber. But when Nightmare Max intercepts her mid-jump, she finally realizes that her actions have consequences and has no choice but to compromise a last chance at success by sharing this new timeline with a younger version of herself, instead of overwriting them like she's always done.So, the question now is... in this deadly game of chicken, who will give up first? An experienced time-traveller who can bend time to her will, and an anxiously depressed teenager; or a stubborn universe hell-bent on upholding fate and destiny, no matter the cost? Welcome to The Final Timeline - Before The Storm.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Chloe Price, Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Rachel Amber & Maxine "Max" Caulfield, Rachel Amber & Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Chloe Price, Rachel Amber/Maxine "Max" Caulfield, Rachel Amber/Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price
Comments: 26
Kudos: 76





	1. Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year everyone!
> 
> Here's the first chapter of hopefully three new fanfics that I plan on releasing over the next few weeks. Like I said at the end of Pricefield - Time Warriors, I will be doing a staggered weekly release until I reach the end of my written backlog for this (and the other fics), at which point there will be no set release schedule and further chapters will simply come when they come. However, my new year's resolution is to finish at-least one of these new fics by the end of the year, but with my terrible luck, that's probably not gonna happen. Only time will tell. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to:
> 
> The Final Timeline - Before The Storm.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**The Final Timeline - Before The Storm**

**Chapter 1: Reflection**

The first few seconds of a photo jump are always mildly disorienting. At-least, all of them have been so far, with the exception of this one. Never this one. I've jumped back to this point so many times now that I've lost count. So once my surroundings had begun to bleed through the pure white in my vision, the sound came next. Upon hearing the click and whirr of my all too familiar polaroid camera, I pocketed the photo before looking down and glaring at the butterfly perched on the metal bucket. I could feel it judging me, taunting me over my countless failed attempts at stopping the events leading up to the Storm and the fateful choices up on the clifftop.

So I kicked the bucket with as much force as I could muster, sending it crashing into the wall. I watched as the butterfly lazily rose into the air before my foot had even made contact with the bucket and flew its way across the room to perch on a sink. It flapped its wings at me, unharmed and unphased. If it could speak, I was sure it would be saying something along the lines of, "Is that the best you've got?".

Resisting the urge to throw my camera at it, I instead leaned back against the wall and groaned. Nothing I have done so far has changed the end outcome, the Storm always comes and I always have to make the choice to kill Chloe or kill Arcadia Bay. I've seen a lot of shit thanks to what basically boils down to trial and error, though I refuse to give up until both Chloe and this hellhole of a town are safe.

Unsurprisingly, I heard the sound of the bathroom door being opened. I didn't need to look to know it was Nathan anymore, so I froze everything to give myself more time to think. The problem is, I'm starting to run out of options; things to mess with that might have a realistic possibility to change the outcome. In the original timeline I'd chosen to save Chloe, considering I'd gone through all the crap that week specifically so that I could keep her alive. Why would I take it back after only five days, just so that she could die while still hating me, thinking I abandoned her for five years and not even getting to say hello or goodbye one last time before being murdered in a school bathroom? So yes, I sacrificed the town for her. We left straight away and didn't look back. We were struggling heavily with the guilt, of-course, but we had each other and that's all that mattered.

Sadly, even after decimating an entire town, it turns out the universe still wasn't happy. There was no more apocalyptic-sized Storms or other unnatural happenings, but shortly after leaving the ruins of Arcadia Bay behind, Chloe somehow found herself in constant danger. To keep it short, let's just say that I had to rewind an insane amount of deaths that increased in ridiculousness with each passing day. The universe, destiny, fate, whatever the fuck it is, was relentless in it's pursuit to kill Chloe. It very quickly got to the point where Chloe died merely from stubbing her toe on a fucking rock and once we realized that it didn't seem to have an end in sight, Chloe eventually made me consider the fact that as much as I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to rewind every little accident forever, especially if we wanted to live a normal life. She finally convinced me to go back and let her die in the hope that it'd at-least stop the Storm, though once I went back, obviously I couldn't go through with it and instead vowed to find a way to keep her alive even if I had to repeat the Week of Hell over and over again.

So here I am now, back in the very same bathroom after a shit-ton of retries. Over the last few, I started looking deeper into Chloe's life, at first just to get through the boringness of a week repeating itself, but as my options dwindled I began looking for any little thing that might help. I practically interrogated her about how her life was without me, as much as it pained me, and no doubt her, to do so. It took me quite a while to get her to start opening up about Rachel, which I had to ask about before we would come to find her dead in the Junkyard otherwise she'd be too broken and interested in revenge to discuss it. She told me all about how her and Rachel first met. All the crazy shit they got up to. It made me think about all the times she said we'd be "Hella Best Friends Forever" and wish that could be true.

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in my head. Why couldn't we be "Hella Best Friends Forever"? I can travel through time, for fuck sake! The more I thought about it, the more possible it seemed. My powers have grown somewhat since I first got them; I've jumped through a lot of photos at this point, even been able to stay in them if I wish, which is how I managed to make a few hard to get changes during the Week of Hell which were previously impossible due to the photo-jumping boundary and time limitations. I'm pretty much out of things to change now though, so why shouldn't I try going further back? I can't believe I never actually thought about this until now; I've always wondered what it'd be like to see Rachel in the flesh, well now I can. Maybe she's the key to stopping the Storm. Maybe she's not. Either way, it's worth a shot. After-all, in the words of Chloe, time's my bitch. I just have to save Rachel to save Chloe to save Arcadia Bay and live happily ever after.

With a bare-bones plan in mind, I hoped that I had a photo that could take me back to the right moment in time, then unfroze the world around me and full on sprinted out from behind the stall. Now that I'd already decided this was a dead timeline, nothing mattered besides getting to my dorm and tearing through my photo collection. So when Nathan had barely managed to step foot into the bathroom before I had reached him, there was no time for either of us to move out of the way. Not that I had any intention of stopping anyway. I reached up with my arm and 'accidentally' elbowed him hard in the face when I collided with him, swiftly grabbing the gun from the back of his waistband while he was stunned before racing off down the hallway and bursting out of the front doors.

Of-course, my timing is impeccable, as always; I was now face to face with Chloe who had just reached the steps to the front door. She didn't seem to have recognized me just yet. Resisting the urge to jump all over her, I instead silently pulled out Nathan's gun and thrust it into her arms before muttering, "You'll need this. Give him hell." then I hurried away towards the dorms before she realized who I was. Upon reaching the dorm quad, I spotted Victoria and her cronies sitting on the steps like always. With no fucks given, I ran right at Victoria, fully intending to stand on her if she didn't move. I didn't have time for her bullshit. The sight of me running right for her must've been an unexpected surprise, for sure, because she shrieked and very quickly jumped out of the way before angrily yelling what I assumed to be a series of swears at me as I headed into the dorms.

The inside of the dorms were empty, so I made my way down the hall uninterrupted, giggling to myself as I went inside my room. The instant the door shut behind me, I launched myself towards the bed and reached under it, pulling out a few boxes containing every photo I'd ever taken that didn't get thrown away the instant I looked at them. It took me forever but I finally found one that matched up with the day before Chloe and Rachel supposedly met. I pulled it out of the pile and studied it. Just a generic-looking photo of 14 year old me in my Seattle bedroom looking bored and depressed. I felt a twinge of anger rise up in my chest towards my parents and gripped the photo tighter. This one should be good enough. I have a day to convince my parents to let me go to Arcadia Bay and actually get there in time. Even if they don't, there's no fucking way my parents are stopping me, not this time, not now, after everything I've been through.

Determination renewed, I began focusing on the photo. Then I heard shouting coming from the hallway and perked an ear up long enough to hear someone say that Nathan had been shot. I couldn't resist the smirk that crept onto my face and muttered, "Karma's a bitch, Nathan." before everything around me went white.

While waiting for the whiteness to dissipate, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach, before being violently dragged further into the white. It was like someone had stabbed me with a hook and used it as a leash. Before I even had the chance to process it, the white in my vision turned to black. I felt myself get tugged one more time, then suddenly my feet were on solid ground, not that I could see anything beneath them. I blinked and looked up to see that I was now standing in a replica of the Two Whales Diner. Still trying to catch my breath, I growled in frustration now that I realized where I was. The same place from my Nightmare 'vision'. I've visited this place against my will a few more times since that first 'vision' in my many attempts to fix the timeline, though I still haven't figured out what it's supposed to be, or why it's always the Nightmare Max who speaks to me. This is the first time it hurt to come here and I've never been transported while I'm in-between timelines before, so that raised even more questions.

As if on cue, I heard a very familiar cough coming from behind me. I spun around to see Nightmare Max sitting in mine and Chloe's favourite booth, like every time I've come here. I sighed and made my way over to the table before sitting down across from her.

Nightmare Max smirked at me. "I hope you enjoyed the ride."

I rubbed at the sore spot on my stomach and frowned. "It fucking hurt."

Nightmare Max glanced at my stomach and laughed. "Oh, it hurt? How careless of me, I'm so sorry. Not!"

I shook my head at her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Nightmare Max rolled her eyes. "I'm you, shouldn't you know the answer to that?"

I groaned. "Why am I here this time?"

Nightmare Max shrugged. I wanted to see if I could bring you here mid-jump. It seems I can."

I slammed my fist into the table, not in the mood for her shit. "Every time you bring me here, you never say anything useful. You always give cryptic answers or insult me for something I did. What is the fucking point of any of this? Actually, don't even bother replying, I know you can't keep me here. I'm leaving."

Nightmare Max smiled deviously at me as I stood up from the table. "I wouldn't if I was you."

I snorted and started walking towards where the bathroom is, which was usually the way out. "Just try and stop me. Oh wait, you can't!"

Nightmare Max giggled from behind me. "If you insist."

I ignored her and grabbed the bathroom door before pulling it open. Nightmare Max was suddenly standing on the other side, glaring furiously at me. Before I even had time to question it, she sucker punched me so hard that I landed flat on my ass on the tiled floor of the diner. I blinked, trying to recover from the shock. I looked up to see Nightmare Max standing over me, fist still clenched.

I gulped. "You've never been able to touch me before, nevermind hit me. How the fuck..."

Nightmare Max cracked her knuckles menacingly. "I've been in this place for quite some time now. I've learned things. Gotten stronger. So unless you think you're strong enough to fight back, I don't think you're going anywhere until I say so."

I warily pulled myself to my feet. "What the fuck happened to you that caused you to be such a bitch?"

The look of utter surprise on her face suggested she never expected me to ask that question.

Nightmare Max slumped down into the nearest booth, suddenly looking very broken.

I knew that look all too well. It was the look of heartbreak. I knew it because she was me, and I'd seen that exact same look on my own face in the mirror, not only when I abandoned Chloe five years ago, but after I euthanized the paralyzed version of Chloe. I felt it everytime she died. Even if I'd rewound it, it still broke my heart every single time. That was the missing piece I needed to finish the puzzle.

I slowly reached my hand out and put it on her still-enclosed fist. It was enough to get her to look at me. "You're her, aren't you? Maxine, right?"

I watched as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, but nothing came out. Instead she settled on a single sharp nod.

I closed my eyes, exhaled and reopened them. "Hit me again."

Maxine blinked several times. "Wait, you want me to hit you? Why?"

I shook my head sadly. "Now that I finally know you're not just my subconscious taunting me, it all makes sense. I killed your Chloe before you could even say goodbye and you couldn't do anything to stop me. That's why you keep telling me to let Chloe die, so that I feel what you felt. You want revenge and if things were reversed, so would I. So hit me again, it's the least I fucking deserve."

I watched as Maxine raised her other hand and held it in the air for a few seconds, glancing between it and me. Then she lowered it and looked down at my hand which was still covering her other fist. She sighed and uncurled it, instead gently gripping my hand in hers. "I wish I could. Believe me, I wish I could. But it suddenly doesn't feel... right, anymore. What you've gone through is worse than anything I can do to you, I think you've suffered enough. Fuck, we both have."

I furrowed my brow as Maxine angrily swiped at a tear on her cheek. "Change of subject then. Will you actually tell me what this place is supposed to be?"

Maxine stared out of the window in contemplation before turning back to me. "Are you sure you want to know?" When I nodded, she continued, "Well... the simplest explanation would be that this is a place either in-between time or at the end of the universe. Not sure which. We get dragged here when you swoop in from a different timeline and 'overwrite' us. We are forced to take a backseat and watch you do whatever it is you do before jumping back to the timeline you came from, leaving us to deal with the consequences of your actions. I'll spare you the details of how Joyce and William reacted to me, or rather you, killing their daughter. However, suffice to say... this place also doubles as what can only be described as a 'Max graveyard', but only for those versions who have been taken over by you at some point in their lives. It's weird and hard to explain it any better than that."

All I could do is look at her in horror. "Wait, this place is a graveyard? Does that mean you..."

Maxine smiled sadly, then lifted her head up and pulled down the collar of her shirt to show what I can only assume was rope marks on her neck. "Yes, I'm dead. Honestly, I was fucked regardless. My life was over the moment you flipped that dial to 11."

I started curling in on myself. "I'm... sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't think..."

Maxine sighed. "No you didn't think. At all. You always thought about yourself and took that stupid power of yours for granted. Well, now you know the consequences your actions have; everytime you visit a new timeline, that verson of Max is left to fix your mistake and doomed to spend their afterlife in this empty shithole."

Maxine must've seen the way I was closing myself off because she suddenly got up and sat in the booth next to me. "It's okay, I'm not beating you over the head with this to be mean. I'm saying it to get it all out in the open while I still can. I have no idea how I'll be the next time you come here, or if there even will be a next time."

I looked up from my knees at that. "What are you talking about?"

Maxine snorted. "Well, to put it bluntly... you and that power of yours is causing the universe to split itself apart so that it can stay in control. That's probably what caused this place to exist in the first place, it's the universe trying to contain the situation. Not even I have fully figured out how this place works yet, though as far as I can tell, I am somehow the strongest 'Max' in here. It's how I'm able to drag you into this place. This time, though, when I realized I was strong enough to pull you in while you were in-between timelines and that I was able to hurt you in the process... Since I couldn't do anything before, I couldn't resist the urge to finally get a tiny slice of revenge, hence the punch. I'm sorry for that. You might not believe me, but when I'm able to look past my anger and bitterness, I'm actually on your side."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh so now you tell me... really?"

Maxine shrugged. "Really. I wanted you to suffer, but never Chloe. Chloe is Chloe, no matter the timeline she's from; I don't want her dead anymore than you do. The universe can go fuck itself as far as I'm concerned. You didn't ask for that power, fuck knows how you got it, but if the universe isn't okay with letting one person escape death then I hope it rips itself apart trying to stop you because I've watched you enough to know you'll never stop until she stays alive."

I smiled at her. "Damn right I won't."

Maxine crossed her arms. "Just one problem. Now that you know what happens when you jump into a new timeline... what are you going to do?"

I groaned. "I don't know. Is it possible to, like, take control of them without completely kicking them out? So that it's... I don't know, two Max's in one body?"

Maxine blinked. "I'm struggling to imagine how that'd work even if it was possible. When you overwrite us we end up watching you from this place. So if you can go in and share their body somehow without them ending up here you should be okay. Fuck that hurts my brain just thinking about it. However, they're your powers not mine so it's ultimately a question of, do you think you can do it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe? Obviously I've never done anything like that before. I've never needed to until now. Then again, my powers are considerably stronger than they were when I first got them so perhaps I can make my entrance into the new timeline a lot more, uh... gentle?"

Maxine huffed. "Please do. Being kicked out of your own body is not a nice feeling. By the way, where were you jumping to before I grabbed you?"

I sighed. "Well, I don't know how much you've been watching but I pretty much ran out of things to change in the Week of Hell so I'm going back further, to when Chloe first met Rachel."

Maxine furrowed her brow. "Ah, Rachel. The... dead girl, your Chloe's friend, right? I remember she was missing in my timeline too but I didn't know anything other than that. My Chloe replaced me with someone called Megan, I think."

I winced slightly. "Do you, uh... Know about the Dark Room? At-least from my timeline, I mean."

Maxine shifted uncomfortably. "I only saw a little. Why?"

I exhaled slowly. "In my timeline, Rachel was a victim taken to the Dark Room. If she was missing in yours, I assume it happened there too. When I investigated the bunker, I'm pretty sure I saw a binder with the name 'Megan' written on it. No idea if it's the same Megan as your Chloe's friend, or if it even happened in your timeline, but I just thought you should know. Both our Chloe's friends got fucked by the Dark Room... Myself included. And if I hadn't done what I did to you..."

Maxine shuddered. "Are you saying that Jefferson could've been planning on targetting me?"

I shrugged. "We'll never know, obviously. I have no idea how you managed it, but you were in the Vortex Club, right? Well he seemed to prey on Vortex Club members, or at-least use their parties as a hunting ground. In my timeline he got a whole bunch of others, Megan, then Rachel who I believe was sort-of in the Vortex Club, then Kate who is admittedly the complete opposite, then he grabbed me for getting too close after I figured out he was targetting Victoria next."

Maxine suddenly shot bolt-upright, a mix of anger and fear on her face. "If he hurts my Vic I swear to god, I don't care if I'm dead and stuck here, I'll find my way back to my timeline and cut off his balls myself."

I raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "My Vic, huh? I suppose that explains how you ended up in the Vortex Club. Care to explain?"

Maxine groaned. "Fuck, I walked right into that one, didn't I? Fine. Well, obviously me and you have completely different personalities. Or rather, I'm assuming you never bumped into Victoria while you was up in shitty Seattle?" I shook my head, so she continued, "I did. I was lurking around the Chase Space and by some miracle she approached me, actually talked to me. She was nice, or as nice as you could imagine Victoria being at 14. We talked and became friends over our love of photography before she had to go back to school at Blackwell. We talked a lot over the years and met up every summer, then I finally got into Blackwell for the extended senior year program and joined her. Living right across the hall from her turned our friendship into a friends with benefits kind of deal very quickly, though we made it official after a while, but kept that part private. She pulled me out of my shell of depression and anxiety... but I still couldn't visit Chloe after her accident. I just couldn't."

I nodded, taking it all in. "Wowser. In my timeline Victoria was nothing but a massive bitch and a bully, though I understand her reasons for it. She's not a bad person, just insecure. Despite all my attempts at changing my timeline, the closest I could ever get to Victoria over five days was semi-friends and even that was incredibly hard to achieve. As for Chloe... well we both royally fucked that up, there's no denying it."

Surprisingly, this time Maxine put her hand on mine and muttered, "At-least you have the chance to fix yours."

I smiled at her. "She may not be from your timeline but like you said, Chloe is Chloe. They're all ours. I'll fix it for both of us and hopefully help this new Max do the same, assuming I don't end up overwriting her like the others."

Maxine stood up and motioned for me to do the same. "I think I have a pretty good grasp on how to keep you connected to this place, so how about you use me as an anchor. I'll keep hold of you once you leave to finish your jump into the new timeline and ease you into it. Like you said, if you can enter gently then it might work and I can pull you back here if it doesn't seem to be going well. Is that okay?"

I pondered it for a moment before agreeing. "I don't have a better idea so... sure."

Maxine walked over to the Diner bathroom with me in tow. "Just a fair warning, if it hurt you being pulled here mid-jump then it'll probably hurt keeping you connected. I didn't even expect it to hurt you when I tried it, so it's not something I have control over, sadly."

I shrugged. "Remember, it's the least I deserve."

Maxine shook her head. "No, Max. You deserve happiness. You're the one with time powers. As far as I know, all us other Maxes are normal. You're the main Max, for lack of a better word. If you can't achieve happiness even with time powers, then the rest of us are fucked. Anyway, I'll be watching every now and then and if this works, hopefully this is the last time we meet. Unless you do anything to hurt Victoria, or of-course if the universe implodes, in which case i'll drag you back here to kick your ass myself."

I snorted. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Maxine rolled her eyes. "Until then, good luck. Teach the universe a lesson it will never forget – Do not fuck with Max Caulfield. Any Max Caulfield. Go save our Chloe."

I smirked. "With pleasure. If we're lucky, this will be the final timeline."

With that said, I put my hand on the bathroom door then resolutely nodded at Maxine one more time before throwing it open and stepping out into the black void. It instantly turned white as I was thrown back into the area in-between realities. I could feel Maxine's 'hook' in my stomach again, which was now reduced to more of a tense feeling rather than one of violent pain. The anchor, tether, rope or whatever you want to call it was slackening as I got closer to the new timeline and I just hoped that this works because I'm not looking forward to being dragged back to that place again anytime soon even if I now know the truth about it.

After what felt like an eternity due to being slowly 'lowered' towards the new timeline, I finally reached the edge. Instead of smashing straight through the borders of this photographic reality, I cautiously pushed forward, breaching it as carefully as possible until eventually, I broke through.


	2. Bipolaroid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max makes first contact with her younger self in the final timeline.
> 
> Now they must adapt to the strange situation they find themselves in and blindly trust each other.
> 
> Luckily, they have the most important person in common which should make things a little easier; their best friend, Chloe Price.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, welcome to chapter two of The Final Timeline - Before The Storm!
> 
> This is where you will find out just what I meant by there being two maxes sharing the timeline... in one body, and yes, I meant it literally.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**The Final Timeline - Before The Storm**

**Chapter 2: Bipolaroid**

The instant I was through the border, everything began snapping back into place just like it did when I normally photo jumped into a new timeline. Except when the whiteness cleared, I realized that it was far from normal. I could see, but I wasn't able to move. I could hear, but I wasn't in control. I had all my senses, just no way of moving the body I was now inside. In-fact, as far as I could tell, I wasn't in the body at all, rather than in it's mind. Almost as if it was an out of body experience. It was an incredibly disorenting feeling and I'd have probably panicked if I wasn't expecting something like this to happen. With phase one seemingly complete, now I just needed to convince this new Max she isn't crazy to have another Max in her head and for her to switch places with me so that I can try controlling her body. Somehow. Easier said than done.

Seeing no way to ease into it, I instead decided to dive right in and spoke, or rather thought, _"Hello?"_

I felt as this new Max froze in place, having just dropped the recently taken photo, and glanced around her bedroom.

I tried again. _"Just say yes if you can hear me."_

I felt her freeze again and she was silent for several seconds before whispering, "Yes."

Well, at-least it was working. _"Good. I want you to clarify for me, are you hearing me from inside your head or does it sound like I'm speaking to you from somewhere in the room?"_

Max stayed silent for a minute as she pondered my question. Eventually she replied, "It sounds like you're in my head. How is that possible?"

I heard her wondering if she was crazy and decided to cut it off before she could say it out loud. _"No, you're not going crazy, and yes I did just hear your thoughts. Sorry. For now I really need you to just roll with what's happening and treat this like I'm a normal person having a conversation with you. It'll make this a lot less awkward."_

Max stood up and went to close the bedroom door before sitting back on the bed. "Okay, then. Should I ask who you are? Or are you going to say you're me and I really am crazy?"

I took a few seconds to decide how to answer, settling on telling the truth in the hope that if it doesn't backfire, it'd result in me being more trustworthy having not lied upon making first contact. _"You're not going to like my answer, but I actually am you. I swear to you, you're not going crazy. I can explain how I'm you but that opens a whole other can of worms way too soon. It might be easier for you to handle why you're hearing me instead."_

Max huffed. "Fine. Please do tell me why the hell I'm hearing and speaking to someone or something inside my head that is claiming to be me."

I opted on taking the direct approach. _"Three words. Chloe. Elizabeth. Price."_

I heard and felt it as she groaned before flopping down onto the bed. "Great. Apparently my brain has stepped up it's guilt-tripping game by making me talk to myself. Mom and dad are just going to love this."

I decided to be gentle with my response. _"I'm not guilt-tripping you. Far from it. Yes, you left when she needed you the most. That sucks more than you know. Just answer this one question truthfully. Don't lie, regardless of if I'm you, or just your brain making you talk to yourself, I'll know. Now, do you want to see Chloe again?"_

Max responded immediately with, "Of-course I do."

Good, now we are getting somewhere. _"Okay. Now put all your fear and anxiety aside for a split second. If you could go see Chloe, right now, would you?"_

Again Max's response was immediate. "Yes."

Now for the kicker. _"Then do it."_

Max sighed. "I can't though. Even if I got past my fear and anxiety long enough to ask for the hundredth time, my parents would never allow it. They always say no."

Just a little more. _"Your parents are the reason why you are depressed. You've always had anxiety but Chloe took it away. When your parents dragged you away from her as brutally as they did, right after William's funeral, they made everything a thousand times worse. I know how much you secretly hate them for ruining your friendship with Chloe, for ruining your life. You need to make them see how much you're hurting without her. Convince them to let you go back to Arcadia Bay, hell I'm sure Joyce would let you live with them, she's always been like a second mother to us. Chloe needs her best friend."_

Max stood up and started pacing around the bedroom. "I don't understand. Sure, you know all that if you're just my brain talking to me but how do you really know Chloe needs me? I tell myself that all the time but it doesn't make it true. Why are you trying so hard to get me to go back, why now?"

Realizing I trapped myself in a corner, I decided to reveal my hand. _"I didn't want to tell you this so soon but fine. I know that Chloe needs you, just like I knew everything else, because I literally am you. I'm you from the future. 2013 to be precise. If I tell you anymore than that so soon your head will probably explode, so please let me be cryptic from now on."_

Max snorted. "Wowser, I didn't expect that to be your answer. Okay, future Max, let's say I believe you for a second. Why exactly are you in my head?"

I figured I'd try to use this opening to see if she'd let me take control. " _That itself is a very long story. Anything I tell you now, you probably wouldn't even believe. I know I'm giving you as little information as possible and it's probably not making me sound any better. I also know you have no reason to believe what little I've already told you, or to even trust me for that matter. So I want to try a trust exercise, for lack of a better description. I'm talking inside your head because my body is, uh... the simplest way to explain it is that my body is stuck in the future. My consciousness comes back, my actual body doesn't. Which is where you come in. If you let me, I'm pretty sure I can take control of your body... Basically, we would just swap places, I think. I'll have everything you have right now, and you'll be... well, in your own head, I suppose?"_

Max moved towards the mirror and looked at her reflection before speaking. "Assuming you're telling the truth in the first place, you do realize how ridiculously shady that sounds, right? You want to take control of my body. Like you said I have no reason to trust you, why would I let you do something that sounds so dangerous for me as some kind of a trust exercise?"

I responded with the truth. _"I'll be upfront with this. I have no intention of forcing it, if you don't want to give me control, it won't happen. Honestly, this is the first time I've done it like this. I've gone back in time a lot but I recently learned the way I went about it before had unexpected consequences for the version of me that I'd taken over. Think of it as a complete takeover, you wouldn't be in control or even in your own head like I am now. It would only be me with full control of your body while you watched from the sidelines until I was finished. I didn't do it out of malice or anything, it's just how I first started doing it and I never realized there was anything wrong with it until now. The reason I'm telling you all this is because even if you don't ever trust me, I want you to at-least know I'll always tell you the truth about the things I can safely answer. So here I am, asking for you to let me take control of your body. Yes, as a trust exercise but also as a test to see if I'm able to actually take control from this backseat position in your head since like I said, this is the first time I've done it this way."_

Max frowned at her reflection in the mirror. "I must be the worlds dumbest person to even think of saying yes to that. But look around, it's not like you could make my life any worse by taking control of my body, even if this is a trick-"

I immediately cut her off. _"This isn't a trick. I can't tell you everything, at-least not yet, but I will say that I am here because Chloe needs me, I need your help, and you need Chloe."_ I heard her wondering if I'd even leave until she said yes. _"I don't actually know if I can leave at this point. Everytime I've jumped through... time, I've done it while controlling a body, so you'd probably have to say yes just to get rid of me. Anyway, we need to be back in Arcadia Bay tomorrow, one way or another. I know that's short notice but I only learned the problem of my previous way of doing this when I was already mid-jump, so I didn't have time to alter my plan. I'm sorry for pressuring you like this, Max, but I, or rather we, can't get started unless you let me take control. I'll give it back as soon as I know it works. I'm fine staying in the backseat for the time being if you can follow my instructions."_

I watched her reflection in the mirror reach over to grip her elbow. "I'll do it. For Chloe. If there's any chance you can get me back to her, I'll take it. But how, uh... do I give you control?"

Finally. If I could breathe a sigh of relief right now, I would've. _"I'm not entirely sure. Just take a deep breath and relax. I'll start trying to push my way in once you're ready. I don't know how it will feel for you once the swap happens so just brace yourself. If it hurts, let me know because I don't want to hurt you."_

Max sat back down on the bed and took a deep breath. After a moment of silence, she muttered, "Ready."

I really wanted this to work without hurting her or anything going wrong, so I forced down my adrenaline rush and started slowly pushing my way out of her head. I heard her gasp once she felt me spreading into the rest of her body but she gave no request to stop, so I kept going. Eventually, it felt like I was locked in and gave one last push to switch places with her.

At first, I didn't even realize the switch had happened but then I felt the need to blink. I cautiously began to move limb after limb, testing everything, making sure I had full control. Once I was satisfied, I carefully stood up and made my way back to the mirror to look at the reflection. I was now controlling this 14 year old Max's body. That's when I realized she hadn't said a word yet.

I coughed and cleared my throat before speaking, addressing the reflection in the mirror like she had done before. "Max, are you there? Can you hear me?"

After a few more seconds of nothing, I spoke again. "If this worked, you should be inside your own head, sort of. Speaking doesn't seem to work because I control that, so try thinking instead. I think you share a part of your brain with me which I suppose allows you to communicate with me by thinking. At-least that's how I assume I did it."

I waited again. Finally, I heard something quiet echoing in the back of my head. It was extremely disconcerting. "Do that again. Try to think... louder."

All of a sudden I was practically deafened by her thought exploding in the back of my head, _**"CAN YOU HEAR ME?"**_

I winced and covered my ears, not that it helped since it came from inside my head rather than outside. "Shit, yes I can hear you now. Don't do it that loud, please. You almost blew out your own eardrums."

The next thing I heard was, _**"Crap, sorry. Wowser this feels so weird. Can you hear literally everything I'm thinking now?"**_

I shook my head at the mirror reflection. "No. I think when you're in the backseat, you communicate with me by thinking at me, if that makes sense? If you just think to yourself I can't hear it. You can probably hear my thoughts though, like I could hear yours when I was in the backseat. Repeat this if you can hear it. Then I thought to myself, _"I am stronger with Chloe."_

Almost instantly followed by, _**"I am stronger with Chloe."**_

I groaned. "This is going to make keeping certain things from you a lot harder than it should be. I'm not doing it to be sneaky or to trick you, it's just... there's some things you really don't want to know or shouldn't know yet. I mean, who knows... the universe might explode if you do." Then I stuck my tongue out at the mirror.

Max responded with, _**"Fine. I get it. You've got experience, since you're apparently a time traveller. You've probably seen things that would give me nightmares, huh?"**_

I sighed. "That's a massive fucking understatement, to say the least." Then I finally took in my surroundings and smiled sadly at the completely bare white walls. "I forgot just how much we hated it here. No reason to decorate. Why bother? Chloe was everything and she's not here. This never felt like a home. Home was always in Arcadia Bay. With Chloe."

After a slight bit of silence, Max replied. _**"Yeah, pretty much... Do you really think I can convince my parents to let me go back?"**_

I turned back to the mirror and frowned. "Hopefully. If they don't then you could just let me talk to them. I've got quite a lot to say on the matter and it's about time I finally let them hear it. But they're your parents so it wouldn't be right for me to blow up on them, I'll leave that to you since I'm fairly sure you have a lot to say aswell, you're just too anxious to speak your mind but I've got your back, Max... They won't stop you, or us, from getting to Chloe this time."

Max's response was hard to hear. _**"Thanks... I think. If we're really going to do this, what is the plan? Please tell me you actually have one."**_

I smirked into the mirror. "Oh I do. There's a reason I picked tomorrow. I won't tell you why though, I want it to be a surprise... for you and for Chloe. Basically, plan A is to convince your parents to let you go back to Arcadia Bay and stay with Joyce. Permanently. Frankly, there is nothing keeping you here in Seattle except for your parents who like I said before, are the reason you are like this in the first place. You are stronger with Chloe, not them. I'm not saying forget about them, they're still your parents, but what they did is something that will never be forgiven and it's better if they learn the consequence of that now. So, assuming they let you go back to Arcadia Bay and live with Joyce, of-course they'll have to ask her but we both know she'd accept in a heartbeat, the problem is keeping it hidden from Chloe until we actually get there tomorrow. If all goes well, we can surprise her. As for school, it's fairly perfect timing too since you could probably start as a freshman at Blackwell Academy in September. Much better than being alone and bullied up here in Seattle. At Blackwell you'd have Chloe to watch your back, like she used to when you were kids. However, if your parents flat out refuse and don't allow you to go no matter what you say to them... then plan B is to simply say fuck them and run away, they had their chance to do the best thing for their daughter. I'm fairly sure you've got plenty of money saved up, all we ever spend it on is polaroid film anyway, so you can easily get a bus or something and figure the rest out once we get there."

Max was silent for a minute while she absorbed what I'd said, before she replied, _**"That's going to be one hell of an adjustment but... screw it. I'm in. Can I, uh, get my body back now, please?"**_

I sighed. "I wish I didn't have to but I told you I would so I will. Hold on a second."

I moved to sit back down on the bed, then I forced myself to relax before slowly withdrawing from her body, curling myself up into the backseat in her head. Once I was all out, we swapped places and then she was back in control of her body while I was stuck with the disorienting out of body experience again.

Max stood up and shook life back into her body, testing everything. When she was done, she muttered, "Thanks. I'm kind of surprised you actually let me back in."

Now that I was in her head, she couldn't see my smug smirk so instead I responded with, _"I told you I would. Trust works both ways, Max. I can't do this without you since not only do I need you to move me around while I'm in the backseat but I also need you to trust me enough to let me take control when it's neccessary, and you need me to give you the kick up the ass required to get back to Chloe. Things could go very wrong very fast if we don't trust each other with this really... strange situation we're in."_

Max rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't trust you just yet, I still barely know anything about you besides the fact you're supposedly me from the future and you're here because of something involving Chloe. Like you said, trust works both ways, so I hope you don't plan on keeping me in the dark forever."

I decided to stick to the truth. _"Don't worry, I'll most likely be revealing a lot of it once we are reunited with Chloe, so you'll be able to hear it at the same time as her. That way I don't have to repeat myself."_

Max walked over to the mirror again and fake-pouted at the reflection. "Nice to know I'm still lazy in the future."

I opted to tease her. _"If you start hanging around with Chloe again, we both know that won't be true. You know what she's like. You'll be dragged all over the place against your will but you'll still go along with it without complaint just because it's Chloe."_

I watched as her reflection narrowed it's eyes before sticking up her middle finger at the mirror and walking over towards the door. I felt her stop short of opening it and mutter, "I just realized... How is this going to work for, you know, bathroom stuff?"

I hadn't even thought of that. I very quickly tried 'closing' my eyes but since she controlled them, nothing happened. _"If you don't want me to see anything, I think you'll have to keep your eyes closed since I only see through them. But, I mean... We're literally the same person so I don't think it really matters, does it?"_

Max groaned. "You're from the future, 2013 you said, right? I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're 18. You do realize how creepy that is, don't you?"

I couldn't really come up with an adequate response to that. _"Yeeeeaah. My only defense is that I've already seen everything. Sorry... All I can do is just try to tune out when it comes to bathroom stuff."_

I felt her shake her head and heard her swear under her breath before opening the door and heading towards where the bathroom is. Well, at-least this lack of privacy will get her used to the Blackwell dorm showers in the future pretty quick. The amount of people who threw open your shower curtain while you're in it was ridiculously high.

With the short bathroom break done with, we decided to tackle the parents straight away so that we had as much time to prepare as possible if they refused and forced us to sneak out at night. Which meant heading downstairs to the living room where they were currently watching tv. The feeling of walking down a set of stairs while having no control over it yourself is not nice at all. No doubt one of many things I'll need to get used to while I'm in the backseat. Thankfully, we made it down the stairs without tripping, though once we reached the bottom I was certainly tripping in the figurative sense. I definitely would not recommend walking downstairs without the feeling of limb control, it's not a fun experience.

As we approached the living room, I could hear the thoughts buzzing through her head and decided to leave this conversation to her. If it didn't end well, I could always rewind. Though that would need me to be in control since I need to use my hand to actually trigger the rewind... and that raises the question of if it will work well with her in the backseat. Shit. I probably should've tested it beforehand but I don't want to scare her with it so soon unless it's absolutely neccessary. Hopefully this works, if not then we'll try Plan B first. Then a rewind.

Max coughed once we were behind the couch. They both turned around and once she had their attention, she spoke. "Mom, Dad... I want to go back to Arcadia Bay. To see Chloe. Tomorrow."

I watched as our Dad's eyes softened in sympathy, whereas our Mom frowned instead. She was the first to reply. "Maxine, I'm sorry but you know what the answer will be. Just like every other time you've asked it. No."

Max countered with, "Please, Mom. I just need to see her."

Our Dad sighed, but stayed quiet. Mom on the other hand shook her head. "We came to Seattle for a fresh start. You need to move on, Maxine. You're not going, and that's final."

I could feel her shaking with rage and heard the many angry thoughts running through her mind, so I decided to give her some encouragement. _"Max, it seems we have to do this the hard way. iI's time they heard the pain you feel. Let it out, don't hold back."_

Max took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, our Mom physically recoiled, presumably from the glare she was now recieving. "You just don't fucking get it, do you?-"

Our Dad finally spoke up, immediately cutting her off. "Max, you don't talk to your mother that way! And watch your language, please."

Max immediately shot back with, "No, Dad, I won't! I'm done with you two pretending nothing's wrong. You know I've always struggled with my anxiety; Chloe was my only friend and she was the only one who ever made that go away, even a little bit. Until you dragged me away from the only friend I knew, up to this hell-hole of a city that I knew nothing about and had no friends in. Yet you wonder why I'm locked up in my room all the time. It's because of you! I'm like this because of you, and you refuse to acknowledge the pain you caused! You pulled me away from William's funeral before I even got the chance to say goodbye properly, nevermind to Chloe. Do you understand what that did to me? It broke me. I can barely even look at Chloe's name in my phone anymore because of the guilt of abandoning her when she needed me the most, and that's all thanks to you guys. I may only be 14 but you ruined my life the moment you decided to move to Seattle without even asking for my opinion first, and I'm done holding this in. It's time you heard the truth."

Mom crossed her arms. "Oh, and what's that, Maxine? You're only 14, like you said, so you'll get over it eventually and learn to enjoy life here in Seattle."

I could feel her clenching her fists so hard that the nails were digging into her palms. "Okay, the truth. So be it... I hate you. Both of you. So fucking much. I will never, ever forgive you for what you did, neither will I get over it or move on. What kind of parents thinks the best thing for their child is to drag them far away from the only thing they've ever been comfortable with? Well, you guys kept telling me to be more independent and learn to get past my anxiety, right? This is me doing exactly that, by finally standing up to your bullshit. I stopped thinking of you as my parents the second you took me away from Chloe and now I only see you for the monsters you are. Mom, you're nothing but a control freak, plain and simple. As for you, Dad? Well, I admit I'll always have a soft spot for you, but you never stand up to Mom, you always go along with what she thinks is best and for that I simply can't forgive you."

Max took another deep breath before saying something I never expected to hear. "You know, I've had plenty of time to think over the past year and a half I've been stuck here on my own, and I finally realized why it hurts so much... In the end, I thought of Chloe as more than a best friend. Way more. So nothing will stop me from seeing her again, especially not you two. Do you understand now?"

Mom just sat there, stunned at what she was insinuating, leaving our Dad an opening to voice his opinion. "Oh, honey... I'm sorry. If you'd have told me all of this sooner..."

He made a move to reach out and hug her, but she stepped further away. "Too little, too late, Dad. I... Love Chloe. More than you two. So if I have to choose, I'm picking Chloe. Every. Single. Time. I'll gladly pay that Price."

Then she spun on her heel and stormed off back up the stairs to her room, ignoring our Mom's demands to come back. She slammed the door behind her and screamed.

I could feel the rage building inside her and decided to cut it off before she got urge to trash the room. _"Max, listen to me. You did good, considering the circumstances. I wish I had the balls to admit what you did when I was still 14... Anyway, Plan A failed so it seems they've forced our hand. Plan B it is. I wouldn't recommend trashing your room because we could probably take a bunch of this stuff with us when we sneak out tonight. Just take a deep breath, calm down."_

Once she did so, I continued, _"Okay, now I assume you still have that old duffel bag in the closet? Grab it and start packing now, before they figure out what we're planning. Bring anything you want, but don't forget our one-eyed Captain, we can't leave him behind all alone in this prison cell."_

Max giggled, then stood up and got to work throwing things into the bag. Toiletries, clothes, random bits and pieces. Then came the single box containing photos of our childhood with Chloe, completely ignoring the new ones taken during her time in Seattle. Then she reached under the bed and removed a piece of the wooden flooring where we hid our secret snack storage, emptying the contents into the bag. The last things she packed was a flashlight, all her pocket money, and the Captain.

She collapsed onto the bed and yawned. "I think that's everything. What now?"

I did a quick mental recap of everything she packed. Satisfied, I replied, _"Now you go to sleep. You'll need the energy for what's coming. Set your alarm for midnight, we'll make our escape when the parents are sleeping. The further we get before they realize we've gone, the better chance we have of this working in the end."_

Max nodded, then swiftly curled up under the covers, not bothering to get undressed since all the other clothes had been packed away. Now the big question was, could I 'sleep' while in the backseat, or would I be awake and aware of everything while she got to pass the time by sleeping?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the dialogues in this fic might be a little confusing due to there being two Maxes, I've created a handy little guide so you know exactly which one is talking and how:
> 
> Normal font dialogue = Whichever Max is currently control in is speaking out loud.
> 
> Italic font dialogue = Old Max is not in control and is speaking, or in this case thinking, to Young Max in their head.
> 
> Bold italic font dialogue = Young Max is not in control and is speaking, or in this case thinking, to Old Max in their head.


	3. Plan B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plan B is a go.
> 
> Ryan Caulfield finally finds his spine.
> 
> Both Max Caulfields return to their rightful home.
> 
> Joyce Price unofficially becomes a mother to another daughter, or in this case, two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! There's no long-winded note about this chapter today.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**The Final Timeline - Before The Storm**

**Chapter 3: Plan B**

Thankfully, it turns out I fell asleep at the same time Max did, and we were both suddenly startled awake by the sound of the alarm going off, signalling it was midnight already. She quickly reached over to turn it off, then groaned. "Do we have to go now? I want to sleep some more."

I mentally rolled my eyes. _"Get your ass up, Maxine Caulfield. Chloe is waiting."_

That was enough for her to rise into a sitting position. Grumbling under her breath about her name being Max, never Maxine, she reluctantly got to her feet before pocketing her phone, then slipped on her shoes, grabbed her keys and opened the bedroom door. She cocked her head to the side, presumably listening for sound coming from our parents' room across the hall. Upon hearing our Mom snoring away, fast asleep, she began sneaking towards the stairs. So far so good. Next came the hard part, getting down the stairs without standing on the many creaky steps along the way. It was slow going, and very stressful, but we eventually made it to the bottom without stepping on a single one.

With the front door now in sight, we cautiously made our way towards it. As soon as we grabbed the handle however, a shuffling sound came from our right, towards the living room. We turned to face it, and saw our Dad sitting there in the darkness staring right at us. If it wasn't for the lack of light, I could've sworn he was smirking. "Going somewhere, kiddo?"

I had no idea what to do and she simply stayed silent, glaring at him.

He stood up and made his way over. He put a hand on her shoulder and sighed when she flinched away from him. "What you said earlier made a lot of things snap into place for me. I understand you hate me, and your Mom especially, for what we did. I get that. The way you talked about it made me remember my own attempts at rebellion when I was your age, for similar reasons, actually. My parents didn't want me dating a girl who I loved very much, and did everything they could to keep me from her. So I ran away, which is why I had a gut feeling to wait down here in-case you had the same idea. Now, ironically, the girl I ran away for was your Mom. So now that I understand she's doing the same thing to you that my own parents tried to do to me when I wanted to see your Mom... Well, as your father I completely disagree with what you're about to do, I think it's incredibly dangerous, reckless, and stupid to go off on your own at 14. On the other hand, I realize this is due to your mother making you think you have no choice, and I don't want to lose you by stopping you from doing the very thing I did myself, now that I understand just how much Chloe Price meant to you."

He dejectedly shook his head and wiped at his eyes before reaching into his pocket. "Here, some extra cash for the journey. I won't wake your mother or tell her of this conversation. You stood up to her, and it's time I did the same. Just promise you'll stay in contact with me. If anything happens, anything at all, I want you to call me and I will be there for you, even if your mother won't. Stay safe. Now, uh... Do you want me to call Joyce and tell her you're coming?"

Max finally snapped out of her silence long enough to grab the money out of his hand and say, "No. I'll do that myself. I want it to be a surprise for Chloe."

He nodded and smiled. "She'll be in for one hell of a shock. Please tell her I'm sorry for what we did. Had I known then what I do now, I never would've allowed your mother to tear you two apart. I'll regret that for the rest of my life. Now go, before your mother wakes up. Oh, and Max... I'm proud of you."

Max stood there, frozen on the spot with her hand on the door. I could hear her fighting with herself over whether to hug him or not, so I gave her a push. _"Do it. Fuck, I kinda really want to hug him myself right now... I never knew any of this either, if I had... I probably wouldn't have been so hard on him."_

That was enough for her to launch herself at him and attempt to give him one of his own signature bear hugs, before muttering, "Thanks Dad. This means more than you will ever know. I'll call you once I get to Arcadia Bay."

He untangled himself from the hug, then swiped at his eyes again before shooing us out of the front door. Once he closed it behind us, that was it, we were free. Not wanting to waste any time, we practically sprinted off in the direction of the nearest bus terminal. Unfortunately, the closest we could get to Arcadia Bay by bus at this time of night was Portland, so I made a snap decision to freight hop the rest of the way there.

Surprisingly, nobody was too concerned about a 14 year old travelling alone across state lines at midnight, so the ride to Portland was fairly boring. Once we were almost there, I spoke up. _"We should probably call Joyce now. I doubt we'll have signal once we start freight hopping."_

Max huffed. "I know we said we'd call her but are you sure doing it in the middle of the night is a good idea? What if Chloe wakes up and answers instead?"

I thought for a moment before replying, _"I think she might be doing a late-night shift at the Two Whales Diner so we could try calling there first? Somehow I still remember the number for the Diner's phone."_

Max snorted. "That's because Joyce drilled it into us to remember it in emergencies. Clearly it worked." Then she nervously cleared her throat. "Do you, uh... want to do this? I don't know what to say to her and, well... my anxiety isn't happy right now."

That was fine by me. _"If you're okay with me taking control, sure. It works better if I can lead this conversation anyway. Also thanks for reminding me of the emergency thing, I might be able to use that to our advantage. Uh... Whenever you're ready, Max."_

Max nodded to herself, then began to relax her body. Now that we both knew how the process worked, the swap went much faster this time around.

Once I had control, I overexaggeratedly stretched, glad to be able to move again. Then I navigated through her phone and dialed the number for the Two Whales Diner.

It rang a couple of times before being picked up. "Hello, this is Joyce at the Two Whales Diner. How may I help you?"

Bullseye. I smirked to myself and prepared to reply but before I could, Max piped up from inside my head. _**"Just remember, you're 14 not 18. I don't know what your plan is but try not to make me sound like an idiot, okay?"**_

I just rolled my eyes at her worrying, and rushed to speak before Joyce hung up. "Um... Hey, Joyce. It's Max. Max Caulfield."

The loud gasp on the other end of the line stopped me from getting any further. "Oh my goodness, Max! It's so good to hear from you, how are you doing?"

Heeding Max's reminder, I replied with, "It's great to hear your voice again, Joyce. I'm... honestly, not doing so good. I remembered how you always told us to call the Diner in emergencies so... yeah."

The concern was thick in Joyce's response. "Max, what's wrong? You can tell me anything, you know that."

I smiled at that. "Well, first you might want to sit down."

There was shuffling on the other end of the line, before Joyce spoke again. "Okay, hon. I'm ready. What is it?"

I exhaled slowly for dramatic effect, then said, "When my parents tore me away from you and Chloe at the end of William's funeral, I left Chloe a really crappy goodbye message. Most of it turned out to be a complete lie, that's on me, but I swore to her that we'd always be together, even when we were apart; we were still Max and Chloe. So I'm coming back to where I belong, Joyce. Chloe is and always will be my home."

The silence from Joyce was a little worrying, until I heard her sniffle. "You're... really coming back? To Arcadia Bay? How?"

I ignored the happy tears running down my face, and answered, "I am. A year and a half too late, but I'm keeping my promise. I'm on my own, on a bus outside Portland. I figure I'll reach Arcadia Bay in a few hours at most."

Joyce was full-on crying at this point. "On your own? You're only 14 though, right? Max, what about your parents?"

I snorted. "Fuck my parents. Uh... Sorry. The situation with them is a little complicated right now. Listen, Joyce... You've always been like a second mother to me, and as far as I'm concerned, a better mother than my own. So please, don't call my parents. Don't tell Chloe I'm coming, either. I want this to be a surprise for her. Will you still be at the Diner in a few hours when I arrive? Give me a chance to explain everything first before throwing me to the wolves."

Joyce sighed. "Since I know how much you and Chloe mean to each other, fine. I'll hold off on sounding the alarm. Just get here in one piece, alright? I don't want to explain to Chloe or your parents how you got hurt trying to run away to Arcadia Bay."

I mock-scoffed. "Please, Joyce. You think I'd go to all this trouble just to fall at the first hurdle? Nothing will stop me from getting back to Chloe, nothing."

Joyce groaned. "Okay, Max. I'll be waiting here at the Diner. See you soon, hon."

I put as much warmth into my next words as possible. "Thanks, Joyce. I can't wait to see you again. Goodbye for now."

Then I hung up and settled back into my seat with a sigh. "Was that good enough for you, Max?"

Max responded quickly. _**"Definitely. I think you sold it a little too much, if you ask me."**_

I shook my head. "I needed her to see just how serious I was, otherwise no doubt she'd have called our parents immediately if she thought we were half-assing an escape attempt just for the sake of it. Speaking of which, is it okay if I stay in control for a while longer? We stand a better chance with me at the wheel if we run into any problems, you know?"

Max was silent for a moment before replying, _**"If you insist. This is me trusting you with free reign, so don't make me regret it."**_

I smirked and nodded. "I understand. Thanks."

It didn't take long after that to arrive in Portland. On the way there, I'd spent some time finding the nearest stretch of freight line running west towards the coast. Once we were off the bus, I went in the general direction of where it was supposed to be. Thankfully, we managed to avoid the majority of late-night drunks and creeps, with the few that we couldn't simply looking at us funny. Eventually, we made it to the area of tracks I'd picked out, it was unsupervised and an easy spot to jump on undetected. Apparently we were almost right on time as a few minutes later, a train came blasting through with several open box carriages. It was close, but I managed to launch myself inside one before the window of opportunity had passed. I curled up in a far corner against the chilly night air, and now all that was left to do was wait.

We had to switch trains a couple more times but thanks to my planning on the bus, it wasn't much of an issue to change at the right times. Unsurprisingly, the final freight hop involved a certain train that I had a personal hatred towards. Train #1337 to be specific, the very same one I'd seen plow through Chloe countless times in the future. Not that I told Max this, and it took a lot of effort to keep myself from actively thinking about it.

After what felt like an eternity, the train passed by the spot where Chloe got her foot stuck in the tracks, and even now I half expected her to materialize out of nowhere in-front of us. Thank fuck she didn't. A few seconds later, we'd reached the Junkyard and I hurried to jump out of the carriage before we went too far.

I glanced around at the sight infront of me. Welcome to American Rust. Chloe's home away from hell, Rachel's graveyard, and another one of my personal nightmares. Unfortunately, this was as good a place as any to lie low, and since Chloe wouldn't come across this place for a couple of days... Well, this time, Max was here first.

I casually wandered over towards the future hideout and asked aloud, "Hey Max, did you pack a marker or something I could use to, you know, draw?"

Max replied with, _**"I think so. Check one of the side pockets on the bag, there should be something in there. Why?"**_

I grinned to myself and rifled through the bag's side pockets. "I just wanted to mark the occasion. We're home, Max. You're home. You did something I wasn't able to do for... quite some time."

Max's response was fairly quiet. _**"If you hadn't turned up to give me a push... How long did it take you?"**_

I sighed. "Five years of practically zero contact. I only managed to return in September of 2013 because I got accepted into Blackwell on a photography scholarship. The rest... you'll find out later."

Max stayed quiet, presumably thinking over how much of a fuck up I was, or she would've been. Not that I blame her.

I finally found a black marker pen, and to distract myself from thinking about the exact same things, I rushed inside the hideout and got to work tagging the wall with ' _ **MAX WAS HERE**_ ' then stood back to admire my simple work of art.

Max piped up with a snarky, _**"Really?"**_

To which I shot back with, "Yes, really. It may seem stupid now but trust me, it isn't."

Since the hideout wasn't made into a hideout yet, there wasn't anything else to do or look at, so I went back outside and wandered through the piles of junk while trying to ignore that feeling of being watched when I walked into Jefferson's trap in the future. I began looking for differences between this version and the one I knew. Most noticably was the addition of Chloe's deathtrap of a truck, sitting in the middle, looking lost and forgotten. You won't be like that for long, my friend.

Then I caught a glimpse of that spot, under the dim moonlight. The one spot I will never be able to forget. I found myself making my way towards it, against my better judgement. I quickly glanced around. No ghostly Doe hanging around. No disturbed ground. No buried treasure. No Jefferson.

I crouched down and put my hand flat against the spot on the ground that I'll never be able to see as anything other than Rachel's grave, and muttered with as much determination as I could muster, "I won't let you end up here this time. I promise."

Max cautiously spoke up. _**"Who? What happened? Does Chloe..."**_

I immediately cut her off. "No, not Chloe. This is... something else. Sorry, Max, I can't say. Spoilers."

I sensed frustration in her reply. _**"This is stupid. The universe won't explode if you tell me, since you just told me I would've ended up at Blackwell on a photography scholarship and everything's fine."**_

I sighed and stood up. "Please just trust me. There are some things you really shouldn't know until you absolutely need to. Surely you've realized me being here isn't as simple as just 'Chloe needs us', right? It's a fuck-ton more complicated than that. Now come on, let's go to the Two Whales before Joyce thinks we got murdered or something."

Max stayed silent again.

It took a few minutes of walking along the roadside before I came across a bus stop that still ran at this time of night, this far on the outskirts of town. I spent twice as long standing there and waiting for the damn thing to arrive, and when it finally did, I dived into it practically freezing my ass off.

Once I'd sat down, I decided to offer Max an olive branch. "You can take back control now, since you haven't seen Arcadia Bay for a year and a half, you deserve to be able to take it all in. I'll let you reintroduce yourself to Joyce, too."

Max responded with a simple, _**"Fine."**_

She's still annoyed at me, that's okay. I would be too, so I'll take what I can get. We quickly swapped places. Max got to admire Arcadia Bay's limited attractions, while I got to enjoy reading her thoughts at seeing all the changes to the town over the past year and a half she was gone. A win-win situation as far as I was concerned.

Sadly, Arcadia Bay was still a pretty small town, so the ride was over before we even realized it and now we were standing across the road from the Diner. It seemed empty, with the exception of Joyce who was still standing at the counter looking incredibly bored and more than likely woried for our safety. She hadn't noticed us yet.

I could sense Max's anxiety starting to spike so I spoke up. _"Max, it's okay. Remember, it's just Joyce. She's nothing but warmth and kindness, unlike our actual Mom. Just go in there and reconnect, be yourself. Dont worry about messing anything up, I can always take control and talk my way around it if neccessary."_

Max nodded and took a deep breath, then walked resolutely across the road and into the Diner.

Joyce glanced up at the sound of the door opening and at first did a double-take before gasping. She immediately rushed around the counter and I smiled mentally when Max threw herself right into Joyce's open arms. "Oh, Max. Honey, I can't believe you're actually here. I've missed you so much. Did you have any trouble getting here?"

Max sniffled. "It went fine. And I told you I'd come... but I should've come sooner. Fuck, I never should've left in the first place, damn it. I should've fought harder against my parents, Chloe needed me, you needed me... and I just abandoned you both. I'm so... so sorry, Joyce."

By this point she'd already broken down into a sobbing mess, so much that Joyce had to guide her into one of the booths so that she wouldn't just collapse to the floor. Honestly, I felt her pain. I shared her grief. But this was for her, not me, so I stayed quiet.

Joyce had started crying now, too. "It's a shame we don't have a swear jar anymore, otherwise I'd be charging you for those. Christ, Max. Please don't blame yourself. William's death, and what happened afterwards was hard on us all, that includes you. Sure, things would've been easier for everyone, Chloe especially, if you'd stayed... but you were just 13, and not even my attempts to convince your mother to let you stay was enough.

Max's head shot up so fast I could've sworn I felt light-headed. "Wait, you actually tried to get her to let me stay... and she said no? I can't believe it. That... fucking BITCH!"

The sudden outburst made Joyce jump, but surprisingly, instead of telling her off, she rolled with it. "Yeah... She refused to let you stay a second longer than you had to, that's why you left before William's funeral had even finished. She didn't want to give you the chance to talk to Chloe afterwards. So as much as I should probably scold you for calling your own mother a bitch, I cannot in good conscience do so, because I sadly have to agree with you. I even can't imagine how you must be feeling right now."

Max nodded, working her mouth open and shut trying to find the right words. Eventually she settled on, "Right now, the first thing that comes to mind, is that you care about my feelings. She never did. You are a much better mother than she will ever be. She's nothing but a control freak, but I guess you figured that out long ago." She glared down at the table. "When we lived here, she seemed to tolerate Chloe just fine and I was too young to really suspect anything, but looking back at it now I know the truth... she didn't want me anywhere near her, which I suppose explains why the possessiveness went crazy when my Mom told me about the move to Seattle. She just wanted me all to herself."

Joyce reached over and put a hand on one of her enclosed fists. "Turns out all she did was drive you further and further away, huh?"

Max snorted. "Something like that. Living in Seattle was hell. I mean, you know how bad my anxiety gets. Chloe helped massively. Without her, I never left my bedroom. I'd only ever known Arcadia Bay, so to be moved into a place as big as Seattle, without Chloe, was way too fucking much to handle, so I shut down. Nothing my Mom and Dad did helped. My Mom's obsession with controlling my every move meant that for a long time she was fine with me being stuck in my room all the time since I was close to her. Only when it got... really bad, did she finally try 'encouraging' me to be independent, do things on my own now that Chloe wasn't there to hold my hand. Of-course the only thing I was interested in doing was seeing Chloe again, but everytime I asked to come visit, she flat out refused."

Joyce sighed. "Oh, hon... that must've been horrible for you. But all that matters now is that you made it, in spite of her."

Max shook her head sadly. "Maybe, but I made it far, far too late. Over a year and a half too late. Hell, I'm only here now because my Dad let me sneak out after I..." She blushed slightly. "Finally admitted something. He realized just how much I was hurting by being away from Chloe. Apparently he saw himself in me long enough to decide to stand up to Mom. She has no idea I'm here yet. Which leads me to wonder what happens next."

Joyce rolled her eyes with a knowing smile on her face. "You don't even need to ask, you're welcome to stay with me and Chloe. If your father is supporting you then it's his, yours and my good word against your controlling mother. And if Chloe finds out, I have no doubt she'll gladly give her an earful. We'll see how it goes, okay, Max?"

Max audibly gulped. "Oh god. I haven't even asked about Chloe. How is she? Is she okay?"

Joyce's brow furrowed. "Well, I won't lie, the past year and a half without you by her side has been very hard for her. She barely talks to me anymore. I feel like you understand Chloe better than I ever will, which makes me think I'm not as good a mother as you make me out to be, Max."

Max reached over and patted Joyce's arm. "Of-course you are. Now that I'm back, assuming Chloe doesn't just tell me to fuck off back to Seattle, I'll give you a few hints on how to make things easier for her once I figure out just how bad it is."

Joyce smiled. "Deal. I'll hold you to that, Max. So, you said on the phone that you wanted to surprise Chloe. Does that mean you're coming home with me tonight so that you can scare her while she's sleeping?"

I caught her wondering what to say, so I gave her a hand. _"Tempting, but no. We've already got something planned out and Chloe needs to stay in the dark."_

Max hummed, playing it off as if she was thinking of an answer. "As tempting as that is, no. I already have a plan so I can't go home with you tonight. Don't worry, I've already found a place to hide. I just don't want Chloe to have any idea I'm back... for now. Please don't tell her. Just act like everything's normal until she suddenly comes running to tell you about me, because no doubt she will."

Joyce raised an eyebrow in response. "Alright, Max. I'll trust that you know what you're doing and won't say a word. Just remember to call me if you need anything."

Max groaned. "Speaking of which, I promised my Dad I'd call him when I arrived. Sorry."

Joyce nodded. "It's okay, hon. Go ahead. Hardly any customers at this time of night but I'm sure I'll find something to do."

Max giggled, then stood up along with Joyce who went to stand back behind the counter. She pulled out her phone and called our Dad.

He answered almost immediately. "Hello? Max, are you okay? Are you in Arcadia Bay?"

Max laced her voice with sarcasm. "Wow, Dad. You sound worried. Almost like you care."

He sighed on the other end of the line. "Ofcourse I care, Max. Come on, I know you're pissed at me and I deserve it, but never joke about that again. I let my 14 year old daughter run away in the middle of the night because I care. Which to anyone else would sound like the complete opposite, but I trust that you know what you're doing. Judging from your tone, I'll assume the answer is yes to both of my questions. I thought you should know, your Mom is still sleeping so you have a head start, but once she wakes up in the morning... there will be hell to pay, for both of us. You know that, right?"

Max growled in anger. "Sorry in advance, Pop... But I'd like to see that bitch try to drag me out of Arcadia Bay a second time. I was too young and stupid to know why it happened the first time around, but now I'll fight her with every bone in my body if it means staying by Chloe's side. So when she wakes up, tell her to think long and hard about what she wants; she can have me all to herself, forever depressed, all alone, and hating her guts for the rest of her life... Or a chance at redemption and a relationship with her daughter. Because from this moment on, she lost the right to call herself my mother. I want nothing to do with her, only if she comes begging at mine and Chloe's feet for forgiveness and mercy will I even consider letting VANESSA back into my life. Do you understand?"

He was silent for almost half a minute before a sniffle registered over the line. "Loud and clear, Max. You can count on me to be in your corner this time, kiddo. I promise."

Max nodded into the phone. "We'll see how true that is when the time comes. Oh, by the way, Joyce is in my corner too and in just the last 15 minutes has proven to be a far better mother than Vanessa ever was, I just thought you should know that."

He half sobbed, half chuckled into the phone. "She was like a second mother to you so I'm not surprised at all. I always liked Joyce... and William, for that matter. Good friends, good neighbours, that we never should've abandoned like we did."

Max cleared her throat and raised her voice enough to catch Joyce's attention. "Speaking of Joyce, tell Vanessa that if she tries to contact Joyce, she won't get an answer." Joyce smirked and nodded in understanding. "She's welcome to call me directly if she dares, I won't block her number, though in doing so she's guaranteed to be told to go fuck herself, especially if Chloe catches wind of the real reason she pulled us apart, which I have no intention of hiding from her. Hell hath no fury like a pissed off Chloe Price."

I mentally snorted at just how true that was.

This time he managed a proper belly-laugh. "I don't doubt it. I really hope I'm there to hear that conversation, if it ever happens. I'd ask to talk to Joyce but it's getting really late, I need to catch some sleep before the fallout in the morning. Enjoy your freedom, kiddo. Just don't do anything stupid, be careful, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill by now. I'll call you tomorrow... I love you, Max."

Max stayed silent for a few seconds before she replied, her voice breaking. "...I love you too, Pop."

Then she hung up and pocketed the phone, then wandered over to the counter to see Joyce staring off into space.

Max coughed. "Everything okay, Joyce?"

Joyce blinked. "Yes. No. I don't know. It's just... when you refused to call Vanessa your mother and addressed her by her name... Well, Chloe does that with me. It just makes me wonder if I already lost her and didn't even know it."

Max's eyes softened. "I can't say with 100% certainty since I've been gone the whole time she's been struggling, but I just don't see how Chloe would discard you after losing William and me at the same time. You've been the only person on her side since then, I'm guessing. I doubt she'd willingly throw that away, even if she acts like it. You know she's never been good with feelings. She'd rather ignore them and bottle it up until she explodes in anger. It's just how Chloe works through things, that's all."

Joyce sighed and nodded. "I hope you're right, Max. I don't want to lose Chloe like Vanessa seems to be losing you. I'm... barely holding on here as it is."

Max reached across the counter and put a hand on her arm. "I know, Joyce. But you're not alone anymore, neither is Chloe. I'm back and I'm here to stay. If there's ever a hill for me to die on, Arcadia Bay is it."

I winced internally at her poor choice of words, but stayed quiet.

Joyce smiled sadly. "Thanks, hon. Now not to mother you or anything but I'm fairly sure it's past your bedtime and since I don't know where you are sleeping, I'd suggest you go there and get some rest. You look exhausted from the journey here."

As if on cue, Max yawned. "Ugh. You're not wrong there, Joyce. I think I'll do that. And if Chloe doesn't want to do this, I will; Take care of yourself... Mom."

Then she turned around and headed outside. The last thing we heard before the door swung shut was Joyce trying and failing to choke back a sob.

The journey back to the Junkyard was a silent one. I was too stunned at the fact Max had decided to claim Joyce as our new Mom so soon to make conversation. Not that I blamed her, I just didn't expect anything like that to happen since I never got the opportunity for any of this when I was still 14. This was uncharted territory for me. I mentally rolled my eyes. If only I'd gotten my own personal future Max to kick my ass all the way back to Arcadia Bay...

Eventually we arrived back at the Junkyard and quickly settled down into a corner of the hideout. It was cold and uncomfortable, but it'd have to do. Tomorrow everything changes. Not just for both of us Maxes, but Chloe and Rachel too.


	4. Another Great Day In Arcadia Bay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Maxes lay eyes on a younger version of Chloe Price for the first time.
> 
> Hiding their secret proves to be harder than they thought.
> 
> Vanessa Caulfield finally calls.
> 
> Max puts her foot down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Not much to say again today, except that it seems the end-note for the previous chapter glitched out for some reason and is displaying an old one. When I try to edit it, it doesn't even show an end-note at all (because I never actually wrote one for the last chapter), so I can't seem to change it. Oh well. *shrug*
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**The Final Timeline - Before The Storm**

**Chapter 4: Another Great Day In Arcadia Bay**

We were startled awake by the sound of a train passing by. Presumably the same one we arrived on, which was also the one that turned Chloe into a pancake multiple times over. That fucking train is going to be taunting me for eternity, isn't it?

Max groaned and opened her eyes long enough for me to see it was light outside before she closed her eyes again and curled up further into the corner.

I spoke up, careful to keep the previous thought locked away. _"Sorry Max, we don't have the luxury of sleeping in, we have somewhere to be."_

Max grumbled, "Do we have to?"

I smirked on the inside. _"That depends, do you want to see what Chloe looks like?"_

Max bolted upright at that. "Okay, okay, I'm up!"

Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. It was 6:27am.

I quickly recalled one of my Chloe interrogations where she explained the details of her life around this time. _"If my intel is correct, Chloe will be leaving her house to take the school bus around 7am. We've got plenty of time to catch a bus from here into town and hide across the street from her house before she leaves. We don't want her to see us just yet though so you might want to throw on a hoodie, just in-case."_

Max huffed and rummaged through the duffel bag for a hoodie. "That's fine by me, I'm freezing to death here without one."

Once she had put on a hoodie, we left the Junkyard and waited for a bus to arrive down the road. Eventually, one came and Max got to sit back and experience a second ride along the shores of her home town, only this time during the golden hour. We had only just managed to catch a glimpse of the Two Whales in all it's morning glory before the bus turned inland and then before we knew it, we were standing a couple of streets away from where Chloe's house was. We walked the rest of the way in tense silence, though the closer we got, the more anxious Max became.

I cautiously reminded her, _"Max, we're hiding across the street, not actually meeting her face to face yet. But if this is too much for you, I can take control."_

I felt Max shake her head as she muttered under her breath, "I know... but no, I can do this. I have to. Whatever happened to her is my fault, I left when she needed me the most. I have to see the consequences for myself."

I groaned inwardly. She's punishing herself. Not a surprise since I'd be doing the exact same thing in her place. Hell, I still kind of am, even after all the things I've been through. I have an extra 3 and a half years of guilt to make up for and being here now hurts me just as much as her.

I decided to stay silent after that.

We finally reached Chloe's street and slowly began to make our way towards her house. A few people were already leaving their homes for work or school, though Max was smart enough to not draw attention to herself as she walked past, atleast. She decided to take up a hiding spot in the shade behind a large tree that was directly across from Chloe's house. A perfect line of sight. Now all we had to do was wait.

The remaining 10 minutes seemed to crawl by. Max kept checking the time on her phone impatiently and with each minute that passed, I could feel her anxiety starting to peak.

I spoke up softly so as to not startle her by accident. _"Max, trust me, it'll be okay-"_

I was cut off by the sound of Max inhaling sharply and realized that Chloe had just opened the front door and sat outside to wait for the school bus to arrive.

Max reluctantly poked her head out from around the tree and we both simply stared at her, drinking in her appearance for the first time. The differences between this Chloe and what she became in my future was shocking. No blue hair, no tattoo... just a plain young Chloe before the world crushed her to the point of open rebellion.

Max muttered under her breath, "Oh god, she looks exactly like I remember her a year and a half ago. She hasn't changed at all."

I snorted to myself. _"Not yet."_

I felt Max frown as she whispered, "What's that supposed to mean?"

I mentally facepalmed. _"Uh... let's just say that she doesn't look like this in my timeline's future. The rest is a spoiler for later."_

Max rolled her eyes and returned her focus back to Chloe.

I could sense that she was having an internal battle with herself. She desperately wanted to rush over and talk to Chloe, as-well as stay hidden because of her anxiety. I gently reminded her, _"I know exactly how you feel right now. She may not be the Chloe I remember but I never got to see her at this point in time either. As much as I want to go over there, we can't. Not yet."_

Max growled in frustration. "She's right there! How much longer do we have to wait?"

I winced inwardly. _"Until later tonight. I promise."_

Suddenly our view was blocked by the arrival of Blackwell's school bus, so all we could see was the top of Chloe's head through the windows while she made her way inside and sat down. We stared at the back of the bus as it drove off until it rounded the corner out of sight.

Max huffed, "So, now what?"

I mentally shrugged. _"Let's go say hi to Joyce while we have the time, see how she's doing after last night, since there's not much point following Chloe to Blackwell. That'd be a boring wait for both of us."_

Max yawned and briefly stretched before stepping out from behind the tree, then crossed the road. As we made our way towards the front door, she glanced up at the rest of the house and noticed that it was still only half-painted blue.

I sighed to myself. _"In my timeline it stays like that until 2013. Just one of the many things we're going to make right now that we're here, Max."_

Max frowned slightly at that but nodded in agreement. She took a moment to compose herself before knocking on the door.

Joyce must've been cooking in the kitchen since it didn't take long for her to open it. "Oh, Max! There you are, I've been worried sick. Chloe's not here though, she's gone to school, you just missed her."

Max smirked. "That was intentional, Joyce."

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "What was? Making me worry, or missing Chloe?"

Max blinked for a moment. "Uh. The latter. I didn't mean to make you worry about me."

Joyce chuckled before stepping aside to let us in. "I know, honey. Still, I'm a mother, it's in my nature to worry about my daughters."

Max spun around and stared at Joyce in surprise as she closed the front door. "Please Joyce, are you trying to make me cry? It's too early for me to start crying."

Joyce smiled sadly and patted her on the shoulder before heading into the kitchen. "I assume you're hungry, Max?"

Max sheepishly peeked around the doorframe. "Kinda, if it's not too much trouble. I haven't eaten anything since running away from Seattle."

Joyce tutted at that and pointed towards the dining table. "Well you're in luck. There's some freshly made pancakes over there which Chloe refused to eat... again. They're still warm and all yours."

Max sat down at the table and greedily rubbed her hands in anticipation. "How could Chloe not eat these? They look amazing." She took a bite of a pancake and hummed in delight. "You're still a fantastic cook, Joyce."

Joyce leaned against the kitchen counter and sighed. "Thanks honey, that's high praise coming from you. Honestly though, I think Chloe doesn't eat because she's avoiding me. She just goes straight to school... I only hope she eats something while she's there."

I winced to myself. _"If the canteen food is as disgusting now as it is in the future, I highly doubt that."_

Max sighed and stopped eating. "Okay Joyce, I told you last night I'd help you out but first I have to ask, why do you think she's avoiding you?"

Joyce sat down in the chair across from us and groaned. "Hell if I know, Max. I'm trying my best but it's been... hard, without William around."

Max frowned at that, unsure how to respond.

I spoke up. _"I've got a few ideas, do you mind if I take over?"_

Max simply shrugged and sat back in the chair before relinquishing control to me.

Before I had even managed to get full control of Max's body, Joyce suddenly exclaimed, "Max, what just happened?"

I blinked a few times and realized she was looking at me with an odd expression on her face. "Uh, what do you mean?"

Joyce leaned across the table slightly and stared right at me, as if she was looking for something. "I'm not sure. I could've sworn your eyes just... changed. Or something. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, or I need more coffee, I barely got any sleep after my shift at the diner last night."

Then she stood up and silently made her way back into the kitchen to make coffee.

Max spoke up in the back of my head, startling me a little. _**"That was unexpected. Do you think she actually saw something happen when we swapped places?"**_

I furrowed my brow. _"Maybe. It's worth testing it out, just incase. If we have a 'tell' then it could become a problem in future."_

Max replied with, _**"Okay, but let's say we do have a 'tell', if Joyce can see it, how do we explain it?"**_

I looked up in thought for a moment. _"The truth, I guess? It's not really ideal, the less people who know about this the better, but we can trust Joyce. Besides, it might make it easier for us to help her with Chloe if she has an idea of how we'd even know certain things that would be impossible to explain otherwise."_

Max was silent for a few seconds before responding with, _**"Okay, if you insist. When she comes back, I'll take control and then give it back to you again so that we can triple-check that she actually sees anything. I just hope this doesn't make things... awkward, to say the least."**_

I tucked back into the already half-eaten pancakes infront of me while waiting for Joyce to finish making coffee. Once she was done, she poured some out for me as-well before sitting back down again.

I eagerly took a few sips of my coffee before tentatively speaking up. "Uh, Joyce... I know this is gonna be a little weird but you said you saw something change in my eyes, right? Could you humor me and see if happens again?"

Joyce looked up from her coffee and raised an eyebrow curiously before nodding.

Once it was clear she was watching, I relaxed and began to let Max back in.

Joyce hummed and narrowed her eyes as she focused on our face. "There! I swear it just did it again."

Max rubbed her eyes. "Okay Joyce, one more time just to be sure."

When Joyce nodded, Max relinquished her hold so that I could retake control.

The instant I began taking over, Joyce stood up from her chair and shouted, "It happened again! I don't even know how to explain it but it's something with your eyes. They don't actually look any different, it's more like I can just... sense that they've changed. Max, honey, what the heck is it? I'm starting to get a little creeped out here."

I groaned under my breath. "Fuck. This is gonna be a problem."

Joyce crossed her arms. "What is, Max?"

I sighed in frustration. "Joyce, there's something you need to know, since its obvious I can't hide this as well as I'd hoped."

Joyce looked worried. "Hide what?"

I took another sip of coffee while I quickly thought up the best way to explain it.

After putting the coffee back down, I crossed my arms on the table. "Okay, I'll just say it straight. I'm not Max."

Joyce sat back into her chair, confused. "What do you mean? You look like Max, you talk like Max. Let me guess, you're an alien in disguise? This isn't a funny joke, Max."

I smirked. "No, I'm not an alien, Joyce. I am however from another timeline."

Joyce raised both her eyebrows. "Timeline... as in, you're a time traveller? This is real life, not doctor who, Max."

I snorted at that. "I'm surprised you know what doctor who even is."

Joyce rolled her eyes. "You do realize Chloe's still a science nerd, right? She might try to hide it but I've had to watch plenty of doctor who episodes with her while she pretends not to be questioning everything that happens in them."

I giggled. "That sounds like Chloe. But we're going off topic here. I should rephrase, I am Max, but not your Max."

Joyce hummed. "Then where is she?"

I smiled at her and tapped a finger on my head. "She's in here."

Joyce frowned. "She's... in your head? So there's two of you? You know what that sounds like, right?"

I nodded. "I see how you could think I have some sort of split personality or mental illness. Well, besides the anxiety, I mean. But no, there really is two of us in one body. I travelled through time and asked for Max's permission to inhabit her body. It's purely voluntary and works on a basis of mutual trust. Only one of us has control while the other... watches, for lack of a better word. We can allow the other person to take control though, and presumably that switch is what you were somehow able to notice."

Joyce sat in silence for a minute while she absorbed everything before speaking up again. "I don't know about there being two of you but I'm going to need some proof that you're a... time traveller, Max."

Max muttered in the back of my head, _**"Well you should've seen that coming."**_

I snorted to myself. _"Ofcourse I saw that coming. Everyone needs proof."_

Max replied with, _**"Careful you don't say anything I'm not supposed to know..."**_

I rolled my eyes at her. _"Passive-aggressive sarcasm doesn't suit your disembodied voice, Max."_

Joyce suddenly cleared her throat. "Max?"

I turned my attention back to Joyce. "Sorry, I got distracted talking to your Max."

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

I looked up in thought for a moment before replying with, "I don't suppose you know a David Madsen, do you?"

Joyce raised her other eyebrow at that. "Yes, yes I do. How do you know him?"

I smirked. "I'm a time traveller, remember?"

Joyce frowned slightly. "A time traveller from where, exactly?"

I simply replied with, "2013."

Joyce sat forward upon hearing that. "So you're from 2013... and you know who David is? Why tell me that?"

I straightened up and stared Joyce firmly in the eye before deadpanning, "Because your Max said she'd help you out with Chloe and I want to do the same, so with that in mind, I am being very serious when I say that if you are having problems with Chloe then David is a massive reason why. You need to realize that now and listen to her concerns before it gets much, much worse."

Joyce narrowed her eyes. "What exactly are you implying, Max?"

I sighed. "Look, I assume you really like David, and it's not my place to say if you should or not. However, it will affect Chloe and clearly already is. You said in the diner last night that it feels like you're losing her. Well, that's why."

Joyce looked away, deep in thought. "I know Chloe says she doesn't like David but I don't understand why. I like him, so why can't she? What does she have against him? He only wants to help."

I shook my head at that. "The first thing I want to point out is that Chloe is still grieving for William. David's personality is completely the opposite to what William was like. William was kind and funny, a massive goofball. To put it bluntly, David is heavy handed and controlling, plain and simple. Chloe hates authority as most teenagers do, but she sees the soldier in him as the ultimate authority figure that wants to replace her father and she sees his offer to help as just a way to control her every move, which she despises him for. Now, I understand why David is like that, but you need to communicate properly with Chloe so that she understands that is not the case, and also with David to set some very clear boundaries and get him some much needed therapy, so that Chloe has the safe space she needs to continue mourning William and express herself without feeling trapped in her own home. You're pretty much my mother now Joyce, and I love you, but you have no idea how far I would go to protect Chloe, so the most important thing you can do is listen to what she says, no matter what. You are the only person she has left except for me now, so if she tries to tell you there is a problem, do not ignore it. Chloe comes first. Always."

Joyce slumped back into her chair in silence for quite a while as she processed everything I'd said.

I winced and quickly apologized. "Sorry for dumping all of that on you."

Joyce slowly shook her head. "No, Max. It's fine. I'm probably going to regret asking this but I think I need to hear it... If you don't talk sense into me, what happens?"

I sighed heavily. "You're already thinking of having David move in, aren't you? Well, I didn't return to Arcadia Bay until 2013, so Chloe only had you to turn to but you didn't listen to her issues with David, you let him move in and then listened to his supposedly helpful advice to control her even more, thinking she needed a firm hand when all she needed was you to listen and give her space. Instead, in her eyes you picked him over her, and it pretty much destroyed what was left of your relationship. Because of David's untreated PTSD from his time in the military, his means of controlling Chloe eventually turned... physical. I don't know when it started or how many times it happened but I personally saw it with my own eyes, he hit her once when he thought she was alone. I didn't want to tell you this because I don't want to ruin your image of him based on something that happened in my future, as I'm specifically trying to avoid my future from happening in the first place, but I will say that eventhough I haven't forgiven David for what he did, something else happened in my future which gave me a certain level of respect for him. He does care about Chloe, in his own way, so he's not completely bad. He just needs help, which is why I said to make sure he gets some therapy."

Joyce just sat there with a look of pure shock on her face and muttered under her breath, "How could I fail my daughter so badly..."

I squirmed awkwardly in my seat and suddenly became aware of a thudding sound coming from inside my head. _"Max...?"_

Her response made me wince. _**"What the fuck is wrong with you? Look at what you did to her! We're supposed to help her, not make things worse!"**_

I rubbed my temples before snapping back. _"I know! I didn't want to tell her the consequences of fucking up but she asked. I figured it'd be better if she understands what would happen if she doesn't get it right this time, rather than just knowing that she needs to do better without knowing the importance of why."_

She countered with, _**"You might be right but I don't give a shit, I need to fix this for both of us. Give me control. Now!"**_

I sighed guiltily and switched places with her.

Max immediately got up and went to Joyce's side before grabbing hold of one of her hands to get her attention. "Hey, Joyce, listen to me. It's your Max here now. I'm so sorry, I didn't think she'd be so... blunt about it. Hell, I didn't even know about any of that, she's keeping me in the dark about a lot of things until it's 'time' for me to know. However, I do know one thing... You may have failed Chloe then but now that you know what's at stake, you will not make the same mistake twice. Especially now that I'm here, I won't let you. I promise."

Joyce slowly turned and blinked a tear out of her eye before pulling Max into a hug. "I know, honey. It hurts but I needed to know. Maybe this time it'll be different. Thank you, both of you. I don't mean to sound rude but I need some space to think. I need to come to terms with all of this before Chloe gets back from school. You're welcome to stay for a while in Chloe's room though, if you'd like to."

Max nodded in understanding, then her eyes lit up in excitement once she realized what she'd said and practically sprinted off down the hall.

I quietly spoke up. _"Before you trip and fall, you might want to tell her to go easy on Chloe if she stays out late tonight because we'll be with her."_

Max spoke over her shoulder. "Joyce, future Max wants me to tell you that Chloe might be staying out late tonight and to go easy on her if she does because we'll be with her. Chloe doesn't know that though, it's a surprise reunion, I guess."

Joyce coughed and cleared her throat before replying with, "Sure, Max. She's still going to school tomorrow, no matter how late she tries to stay out, so keep that in mind. But I trust you, both of you, to keep Chloe safe."

I spoke up with determination. _"Always."_

Max responded solemnly. "Always."

I replied with, _"Jinx."_

Max rolled her eyes and started heading upstairs before muttering, "Shut up you insensitive idiot."

She stopped abruptly once she reached the top of the stairs, with her hand hovering near the door handle.

I cautiously spoke again when she didn't keep going. _"You okay?"_

Max exhaled slowly. "Just wondering how different it's going to look. And trying hard not to think about how I have no right to step foot in her room after I abandoned her like I did."

I sighed inwardly. _"You're not the only one who abandoned her, remember. This will be new for both of us. Open it!"_

Max nodded, then grabbed the handle and slowly creeped the door open before stepping inside.

Her first reaction was, "Wow."

I replied with, _"Wow indeed. It's messy, but not as bad as I expected. Very Chloe."_

Max stepped further into the room and started looking around, taking in every detail.

She gasped upon noticing the string of photos hanging above the desk. "No way. She... she kept my photos? I thought she'd hate me."

I responded sadly. _"She's still holding out hope that you'd come back into her life. I didn't, and these were not in her room in my future. She lost hope by then, but she hasn't yet. She might not want to completely eviscerate you upon first contact, so that's a plus."_

Max snorted. "Gee, thanks. That totally doesn't make me feel any less anxious about it."

I mentally rolled my eyes. _"It'll be fine, Max. She might be angry at first, but she's Chloe. She'll take us back in a heartbeat. Especially once she finds out that it's Vanessa's fault that we abandoned her, and not ours."_

Max groaned. "I hope you're right..."

Before I could respond to that, our phone started ringing.

Max took one look at it and groaned loudly. "Speak of the fucking devil. I wondered how long it'd take before Vanessa decided to call. What're the odds she actually apologizes for what she did?"

I snorted to myself. _"Unlikely. But hey, you did warn dad that if she tried to call she'd get told to fuck off. Now's your chance."_

Max took a deep breath and answered the phone.

Before she could even get a word in, Vanessa was already screaming on the other end. "MAXINE CAULFIELD GET BACK HERE IMMED-"

Max cut her off with a frustrated growl. "Nope. This is not how this conversation is going to go. Let me pre-empt whatever bullshit you're going to tell me by saying that I am not leaving Arcadia Bay, I am not leaving Chloe Price, and I am not going to speak to you again until you apologize for the hurt you caused to both of us. Am I clear?"

Vanessa sneered into the phone. "I will NOT apologize for doing what was best for my daughter! Now young lady, don't make me call the police to bring you back, because I will."

I felt the anger surging through Max, as she replied with an eerily calm voice without stopping to take a breath. "You didn't do what was best for me, you did what was best for you. Like always. And if you even think of trying to call the police, I can tell you right now that I will no longer consider myself as your daughter, and you will lose the right to call yourself my mother FOREVER. That'll be the end of your imaginary happy family. So stop thinking of yourself for once because I am about to hang up, and when I do, you will have one more chance to call me back with a sincere-as-fuck apology otherwise I am cutting all contact and never speaking to you again. Also, Dad, I know you're there – you promised me something last night – it's time to prove it. And don't bother calling me again until tomorrow, at-least. I won't answer if you do, so I suggest you use that time to really consider how your selfishness has affected me. Goodbye Vanessa, and fuck you."

She hung up before Vanessa could say anything else, then promptly threw the phone at Chloe's bed as she shook with rage.

I awkwardly spoke up with, _"That went about as well as I expected..."_

Max huffed in annoyance. "No shit. You do realize if she actually calls the police we're kinda screwed. I am still only 14 afterall, I'm not an adult like you."

I mentally shook my head. _"We'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it. Here's hoping Dad steps up for once and manages to convince her to leave us alone."_

Whatever retort Max was about to give got cut off by a loud yawn.

I snickered inwardly. _"You're still tired, huh? Why don't you crash on Chloe's bed for a while? I'm sure Joyce wouldn't mind. Just set your alarm for, say... 2pm just in-case, so that Chloe doesn't come home to find us asleep in her bed. That'd be hella awkward."_

She nodded to herself and grabbed the phone to do just that, then collapsed onto Chloe's bed and curled under the covers before inhaling sharply into the pillow.

There is no way I could pass up the opportunity to tease her. _"Max, did you seriously just sniff her pillow?"_

Max sheepishly scoffed. "What? No, don't be ridiculous."

I mentally chuckled. _"Uh huh. It smells like Chloe, doesn't it?"_

She quietly muttered under her breath, "...Exactly how I remember."

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, clutching tightly to the pillow as if her life depended on it.

Chloe always was our lighthouse in the storm, a safe harbor where our anxiety couldn't reach us. We were home again, three and a half years ahead of shedule, assuming nothing else went wrong...


	5. Firewalk With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Maxes observe a day in the life of Chloe Price.
> 
> Future Max finally shows off her rewind ability to Young Max and fiercely defends their Captain, with mixed results.
> 
> The Maxes and Chloe are reunited again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! It's time to thrash to Firewalk!
> 
> Enjoy! :)

**The Final Timeline - Before The Storm**

**Chapter 5: Firewalk With Me**

I expected to be woken up by the sound of Max's alarm going off, but instead we were dragged from our peaceful slumber by the sound of Chloe's door being opened.

Max sat bolt-upright, panicking for a split second until the grogginess faded and she realized it was just Joyce, carrying a tray of food.

Joyce winced slightly. "Sorry hon, I didn't mean to startle you. I figured you might've fallen asleep since you didn't come back down so I decided to make you some lunch."

Max took one look at the tray of food and her stomoch grumbled in response. "Thanks Joyce, I'm starving. You're a life saver, I swear."

Joyce chuckled at that. "At-least I know there's one person who still appreciates my cooking. And actually eats it."

I cautiously spoke up. _"Can you let me have control for a second? I want to apologize for earlier."_

Max reluctantly agreed, and relinquished control to me.

I awkwardly cleared my throat. "Hey Joyce. It's future Max again. I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have been so harsh on you. I just don't want Chloe to feel like she's alone this time."

Joyce sighed and sat down on the bed next to us. "It's okay. You aren't wrong. If what you said about her future is true, then I needed to hear it. David will still be moving in soon, because I do love him. But perhaps it's time for a proper sit-down between myself, David and Chloe so that we can have an open conversation for once."

I nodded. "That's a start. However, you should probably have a one-on-one talk with Chloe first. Get her to tell you how she's really feeling, and don't hand-wave it away as teenage rebellion. Listen to her. Make sure she understands that you're still on her side, and then bring David to the table before you have him move in. Otherwise she'd probably see it as some sort of intervention and fly off the handle."

Joyce blinked. "Good idea. I assume you'll want to be there too? To mediate?"

I snorted. "Ofcourse. Um... I feel like I should give you a warning though, there's some events that I need to play out the same, so Chloe might also be skipping school tomorrow. She has a good reason and it can't really be avoided. Unfortunately it will probably result in a very pissed off Principal Wells on the brink of kicking her out. Please don't say anything to her about it. I'm going to try and make sure that she doesn't get expelled... this time anyway, since I'd really like to be able to go to school with her again, but either way just try to be understanding because In my future, that's when you decided to have David move in so that he could 'fix' her, and it obviously went downhill from there."

Joyce pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "Damn it. Why does she insist on throwing away her scholarship?"

I winced. "I think it's just her way of lashing out. But now that I'm back, I'll do everything in my power to make sure she stays at Blackwell. I know she's still a smart-ass science nerd at heart, she just feels like there's no point in trying to be that person when the rest of her life has already fallen apart."

Joyce sighed. "Oh Chloe... How could I have been so blind?"

I patted her on the arm. "You're still grieving for William too. So is she, in her own way. We just have to make her see that she's got support now."

Joyce nodded and stood up. "Yeah... Anyway, your food is probably going cold now so I'll leave you alone."

I smiled. "It's fine, if anyone could make cold food edible it's you. Thanks Joyce. And we'll be out of your hair before Chloe returns from Blackwell, we can't spoil her surprise by revealing ourselves early."

Joyce chuckled. "She's going to be over the moon when she sees you again thats for sure."

Once she'd left the room, Max spoke up in my head. _**"So, Chloe gets kicked out of school in your future?"**_

I should've known she'd pick up on that. "Yes she does. And that's all you're getting out of me, because you'll find out the reason why soon enough. Although I plan on trying to make sure that doesn't happen this time, because unlike in my future, we'll be there too."

Max responded with, _**"Fine, if you want to be so secretive, at-least let me take control again so I can eat Joyce's amazing food."**_

I rolled my eyes at that before relaxing so that she could regain control of her body.

Max practically inhaled the food in front of her, then began exploring the rest of Chloe's room and being an even bigger snoop than before.

I felt her raise an eyebrow at the rainbow statue of a middle finger and decided to state the obvious. _"Yes, she's into girls. And yes, I can already hear the fantasies running through your head right now. Welcome to the 'I'm gay for Chloe' Club."_

Max groaned into the palm of her hand, spun around and headed over to the standing mirror before sticking up her own middle finger at the tomato-faced reflection.

Then she spotted the pirate hat sitting on top of the mirror and begun stroking it reverently, immediately getting lost in the memories of our childhood.

I smiled to myself. _"The adventures of Captain Bluebeard and Long Max Silver are far from over, trust me."_

She nodded at the mirror reflection. "I hope so."

I snickered inwardly. _"I know so."_

Before she had the chance to call me a dork, the phone alarm went off, signalling that 2pm had arrived.

Max quickly cancelled it, then huffed. "So, now what?"

I mentally sighed. _"Now we say goodbye to Joyce and go back to the tree across the road. I know it's boring but there's not much else for us to do except wait and watch at this point."_

She whined at that. "But what if I need to pee?"

I responded with, _"Then I suggest you become one with nature."_

Max frowned. "Yeah no, fuck that. I'm gonna go pee right now and just hope I can hold it for the rest of the day."

After a quick trip to the bathroom, we headed back downstairs with the empty tray of food.

Max put the tray in the kitchen, then wandered into the living room to give Joyce a hug goodbye. "We're heading out now. It's stake-out time apparently."

Joyce raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Spying on something nice, I hope."

Max nodded. "Yep. Chloe."

I could feel the heat radiating from her face once she realized what she'd just said.

Joyce just gave her a knowing look and patted her on the shoulder. "Take care, hon. Remember I'm one phone call away if you need anything. I'll make sure Chloe doesn't answer it." Then she added, "Oh, and Vanessa tried calling earlier, while you were asleep. I already gave her an earful and slammed the phone on her. I couldn't help myself. I blocked the number now though, don't worry."

Max grinned at her. "You're amazing. Thanks again, Joyce."

She chuckled and shooed us back down the hall.

Once the front door closed behind us, Max headed across the street towards the tree we hid behind this morning, then sat down and began the waiting game.

It didn't take long for the Blackwell school bus to arrive. We watched Chloe hop off and spin around with both middle fingers flying in the air at someone still sitting on the bus before she trudged up to the front door and went inside.

Max giggled in confusion. "What was that all about?"

I mentally shrugged. _"No idea. Probably just Chloe being Chloe."_

Moments later, we saw Chloe walk into her room and vanish from view for a second before returning to the window. She opened it and climbed onto her desk to sit sideways in the window frame with something in her mouth.

Max leaned out from behind the tree and squinted so that she could see what is was. "Is she... smoking cigarrettes?"

I smirked to myself. _"Sure looks like it. Just be glad you didn't find her weed stash when you were being nosy earlier."_

Max raised her eyebrows. "Wait, she smokes weed too?!"

I snorted inwardly. "Relax. It's all part of the new Chloe Price charm. You'll soon associate the smell of weed with Chloe, just like I do."

She frowned at that. "If you say so..."

We sat in silence and continued watching as Chloe smoked away in her window for what felt like hours, and indeed the next time Max checked her phone, it was already almost 6pm.

When Max looked back up at Chloe, we saw her spot something further down the street and even from across the road we could her the string of curses she was muttering before scrambling back inside her room.

Max poked her head around the other side of the tree and watched as an ugly blue muscle car drove towards the house and parked in the driveway.

She furrowed her brow in confusion as a man stepped out, went up to the front door and knocked. "Who's that?"

I mentally groaned. _"That would be David Madsen. The guy I talked about with Joyce. The one that Chloe hates with a passion."_

Max nodded. "I don't blame her. Just looking at him makes me want to hate him. He looks so... mean."

I just responded with, _"He's certainly not nice. But most of that is due to his time spent as a soldier. He takes everything way too seriously, he's paranoid, clearly has untreated PTSD and in the future he eventually starts hitting Chloe..."_

Max ground her teeth together at that. "Not this fucking time he won't. If he so much as touches her I'm gonna drive his car into the fucking bay. Or stick my foot so far up his ass he won't be able to shit ever again."

I grinned to myself. _"Ah so that's what I sound like when I'm being over-protective of Chloe, good to know."_

Max rolled her eyes, but she didn't try to dispute it.

I soon realized her gaze was fixed on Chloe's window again, and quickly noticed that Chloe was in the middle of changing her clothes. While standing in full view of the window. Typical Chloe.

I whispered teasingly in the back of her head when Chloe was stood there in just her bra, _"Like what you see, Max?"_

She just mumbled under her breath, "Shut up." and continued watching, ignoring how red her face was.

Once Chloe was wearing a fresh set of clothes, the outfit that I recognized as the one she would be wearing to Firewalk tonight, Max had to scramble back behind the tree so that we didn't get caught peeping when Chloe started climbing through her open window and parkouring to the ground.

Max had to stifle a laugh when Chloe gave David's car a dirty look and flipped her middle finger up at it, I assume out of habit, as she walked past and started heading up the street. "Uh... where is she going?"

I mentally rolled my eyes. _"Why don't you follow and find out? Just keep your distance, we don't want her to spot us."_

Max nodded and stood up, waiting for Chloe to get further up the street before she stepped out from behind the tree and began following.

Several streets later, we watched as Chloe went inside the local skate park to hang out with the skaters.

Max crouched behind a row of thick bushes and peered over the top with a clear view of the skate park. "Who's that she's talking to?"

I only recognized one of them. _"Skater friends. One is named Justin, he's a fellow stoner and goes to Blackwell. I don't know the rest."_

Max raised an eyebrow as Chloe scoffed at something Justin said and snatched his board out of his hands. "I forgot about Chloe's mild obsession with skateboarding. I wonder if she's actually learned how to do it now."

We watched in surprise as Chloe immedately started shredding rails and showing off her skills, much to the shock of Justin and the others.

At-least until she tripped and faceplanted into the ground.

I violently shoved down the natural instinct to rewind whenever Chloe gets hurt, hoping Max didn't notice anything.

Thankfully she didn't. She was too busy wincing and laughing at Chloe's bruised ego. "Oh man, that looked painful. But she definitely deserved it."

Chloe just brushed herself off and pretended it didn't happen. She jumped back on the board and kept going.

Justin quickly stole a board from one of his friends and raced to catch up with her, now in fierce competition.

Chloe spent the next couple of hours at the skate park while we giggled at her antics, but eventually she had to leave. There was a certain secret concert that she needed to attend, after-all.

Max quickly stood up from our spot behind the bushes and started following her again after checking the time on her phone. "It's 8:30pm, where the hell is she going now?"

I smirked to myself. _"Keep following and you'll find out. But I hope you're prepared to hike for an hour."_

Max groaned. "Another hour of walking, are you cereal? Why couldn't you have warned me this morning?!"

I mentally chuckled. _"Because I know how lazy you are. Trust me, it'll be worth it though."_

Max grumbled under her breath. "It better be."

We followed Chloe to the edge of town, bypassing the road turning into the Junkyard, until she reached the train tracks. She followed it into the heart of Arcadia's woodland while we stuck to the treeline and hoped we didn't accidentally step on a fallen branch or something.

Eventually we reached the outskirts of the Old Mill and watched Chloe stupidly playing chicken with the train. Once again the very same train that we arrived on, and the one that I had to rescue her from in the future. God fucking damn it, Chloe Price! It was a good job Max was still in control because my urge to either rewind, shove her out of the way, throttle her or some combination of the three was overwhelming. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to fall into the memory of Chloe being pancaked again. If Max noticed something wrong, she at-least didn't say anything.

Thankfully, one round of train-chicken was enough for Chloe and she headed off towards the crappy gate that lead to the Old Mill. We could hear the thumping of the music even from here.

Max whispered under her breath so that Chloe wouldn't hear. "What the hell is this place?"

I chuckled to myself, _"Isn't it obvious? It's a secret underground concert with free beer and shady guys that are likely to murder you for looking at them wrong."_

Max grumbled at that. "And we followed Chloe all the way out here because...?"

I mentally rolled my eyes. _"Because Chloe's gonna need her ass saving. Well, not really, but we can assist. Surprise reunion, remember?"_

Max froze. "What do you mean she needs saving?"

I gently replied with, _"Don't worry, she'll be fine. But this is one of those times where I need to take control. For safety reasons. You're still only 14, after-all."_

Max gulped at that, but reluctantly nodded and switched places with me.

Now in control, I laughed quietly from the gate as Chloe got her terrible fake ID rejected by the bouncer.

Max spoke up in the back of my head. _**"Really Chloe? You had to know that wouldn't work."**_

I smirked at that. "Now she'll switch to her back up plan and reveal the classic Chloe Price backtalking skills. Watch and learn, Max."

As I predicted, Chloe started arguing with the bouncer. It didn't take long for him to laugh and back away, letting her inside despite the obviously fake ID.

Max responded with mild surprise. _**"Seriously? That's one shitty bouncer if he's letting her in even if he knows she's underage."**_

I shrugged. "We both know Chloe can take care of herself. Most of the time, anyway. Now let's see if we can get in as-well."

Before she could voice her opinion on that, I vaulted over the gate and walked purposely towards the bouncer.

He took one look at me and shook his head in amusement. "Not a chance little girl."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, this little girl doesn't even have a fake ID to show off but I watched you let the last one in even-though you obviously knew she was too young to be at a place like this. Don't be such a hypocrite and let me go in too. I didn't come all this way for nothing."

The bouncer crossed his arms and frowned. "Sorry kid, I can let one in but not two. My boss would literally kill me if he found out. This place is dangerous. Go home."

I huffed in frustration and walked away, sitting next to the fire pit for a moment while he turned his attention away from me.

Max spoke up sarcastically. _**"Great job embarrassing ourselves, Max."**_

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. I could totally get past the bouncer by rewinding, but there was no point when I already knew there was an unlocked and unguarded side entrance. Besides, I still hadn't tested it out or even told Max about it yet... and I don't have time to bring it up now that we're on the clock. I just hope it works if I need it.

Before I went inside, I glanced at the familiar RV behind us and walked around the other side to see freshly written graffiti and chuckled at Chloe's handiwork. Too bad she didn't know it belongs to Frank yet. Poor guy.

Then I headed back around the RV and crept towards the side entrance of the Old Mill before sneaking inside.

My ears were immediately assaulted by loud music blasting from the room next door.

Realizing how close-quarters the inside was, I quickly flipped up the hood of Max's hoodie and settled for observing from the corner of the room, hoping Chloe wouldn't recognize us just yet.

I watched as she attempted to buy a Firewalk t-shirt and swallowed down the urge to intervene when he tried getting handsy. Thankfully it wasn't neccessary since Chloe got revenge by releasing the parking brake on the guy's car, sending it rolling down the ramp and crashing into the loading area outside, much to Max's surprise.

I snorted to myself when Chloe reached into the trunk to steal a t-shirt and all the guy's money while he was distracted, then she used that same money to pay off her debt to Frank and purchase some extra weed before she grabbed a bottle of beer from the nearby bucket and attempted to head into the next room to watch Firewalk.

Max spoke up again, _**"Who was she talking to just now?"**_

I sighed. "That would be Frank. Chloe's drug dealer. In the future he gets pretty aggressive but he seems to be a chill guy now. I've got a pretty good idea about what changes him, though."

Before she could complain about me not giving her all the details again, I rushed past Frank and up the broken stairs, stopping just before reaching the top so that I could watch Chloe's first encounter with the skeevy assholes that future her had warned me about.

Once she walked away from them unscathed, I knew she would be coming upstairs to thrash to Firewalk in peace, at-least until those two dicks came looking for a fight, so I quickly crouched behind a piece of rotting furniture in the corner and waited for the right moment to reveal myself.

Chloe came up and went over to the broken edge of the floor with a perfect vantage point over the crowd and band.

I had to stifle my snort when Chloe started acting like a total goofball, thinking she was alone.

Then I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs and knew shit was about to go down.

I quickly whispered under my breath, "Okay Max, it's show time. You're probably about to see some things I've kept hidden from you so try not to freak out."

I took this opportunity to see if I still had the ability to rewind time and raised my hand. Thankfully, I could feel the familiar sensation of the stands of time within my fingertips. Good. It would've been a nightmare if I had to endure this timeline without my powers.

Max spoke up, a little louder than I expected which made me jump. _**"Uh... Max, what the hell was that?"**_

I raised an eyebrow in the darkness and now that the skeevy guys were walking past us I had to respond with my inside voice. _"You can feel it? Huh. Well, that my young padawan is the feeling of time itself weaving between our fingers. What kind of time traveller would I be without the power over, you know, time? All I need to do is grab hold of it and pull, then the timeline plays out in reverse."_

Max was silent for a moment before replying incredulously. _**"So... you can actually turn back time? Wowsers."**_

I snorted quietly to myself. _"Yeah. I call it the Rewind. Though I haven't used it before in a situation like this, so just as a fore-warning, I don't know how it'll affect you, or us."_

After that, I turned my attention on the douchebags who had just interrupted Chloe's Firewalk experience.

When their conversation quickly became heated and they started backing Chloe into a corner, Max interrupted again. _**"Aren't we, you, going to do something? Don't let them hurt her!"**_

I frowned as one of them smashed a beer bottle and started waving it around. _"Of-course we are. But I'm only going by what future Chloe told me about this event, so I need to see it for myself first before getting involved. Besides, I don't think she'll really need us. Keep watching."_

I gritted my teeth in anger when one of them grabbed Chloe's arm and hoped the cavalry would arrive on time.

Luckily, it did. Right as the guy was about to shank her with his broken beer bottle, a voice shouted from the staircase we came from, just around the corner out of sight. It was enough of a distraction for Chloe to escape, and she ran past us, down the stairs with her saviour as the two guys followed in hot pursuit.

Once they'd passed us, I muttered under my breath and extended my arm, preparing to rewind. "See, she didn't need us. But we're going to get involved anyway, to make this one hell of a surprise reunion. Are you ready?"

Max responded with a simple, _**"Ready."**_

I nodded to myself, then grabbed hold of time beneath my fingers and pulled.

Immediately, there was a flare of pain in the back of my skull so unexpectedly strong that I almost blacked out. The only comparison I have for it is when I froze time trying to save Kate in the first timeline, except like ten times worse. This is what happened whenever I tried to rewind while holding onto another person, and I'd hoped the fact that Max and I was inhabiting the same body wouldn't be enough to trigger it. Unfortunately I was wrong. However, the last time I'd tried to take a person back with me was many, many timelines ago; the pain was so excruciating at the time that I never bothered attempting it again, but since then my endurance levels have grown exponentially. So beyond the initial stab of pain that almost knocked me out, I managed to push through it with relative ease and the world soon began crawling backwards.

I let my focus drop slightly so that I could think again, hoping Max was still there. _"Hey Max, are you still with me?"_

No response.

I tried again. _"Come on, talk to me Max. Don't tell me that I just erased you from existence."_

Still nothing.

I was about to stop rewinding when I felt another jab of pain lance through my head. But this was different, more like the few times when Max used her emotional thoughts to smack the inside of my skull after I pissed her off by saying something stupid.

Finally, I heard her. Like a whisper carried by the wind. If the world wasn't completely silent I would've missed it. _**"...I'm still here. Feels like I got thrown into a wood chipper though."**_

I winced at that, but kept rewinding now that I knew she came along for the ride, going slightly further than when the skeevy guys walked up the stairs before dropping my hand.

I instantly whispered to myself in concern. "Are you okay, Max?"

She was silent for a few seconds before I heard a groan inside my head. _**"Ugh. I'm recovering, let's leave it at that. Is rewinding always so... painful?"**_

I shook my head. "No. I've never been able to rewind while holding onto another person before because it hurts too much, like there was a wall blocking me from doing so. I'd hoped you wouldn't count towards that, but I'm much stronger than I was the last time I tried that and managed to break through. There was no pain afterward, so hopefully next time it won't be a problem."

She grunted again. _**"Can't say I'm looking forward to a next time..."**_

I rolled my eyes as the skeevy douchebags walked past us again and used my thoughts to reply. _"It'll be fine. But i'm not sure how smoothly this intervention is gonna go, so I apologize in advance for what you might be about to see. Please stay quiet and let me concentrate now, and once this is over I'll let you take control so you can enjoy the rest of the night."_

Thankfully she decided not to question me, understanding the situation we were about to be in.

I watched and waited for the assholes' conversation with Chloe to become heated again.

As soon as they started backing her into the corner and threatening her, I vaulted smoothly over the furniture we were hidden behind and put my game face on.

Thanks to future Chloe, I already knew their names and I called out to them from the shadows with barely contained calmness, "Sheldon Pike, Peter Gillespie, leave her alone and you won't get hurt."

The one closest to her, Sheldon, jumped in surprise and spun around to face the direction my voice came from. "What the- Who's there?!"

I took a step forward, just beyond the shadows so that they could see my silhouette. "Do as I say, and leave her alone. I won't tell you again."

Sheldon looked me up and down before scoffing. "How old are you, 14? Get the fuck outta here kid, this doesn't concern you."

I flipped my hood down so he could see my face, then shot him a deadly glare. If looks could kill, he'd be a puddle of meat and bones right now. "This 14 year old is going to kick your ass if you so much as lay a finger on her."

The other guy, Peter, laughed. "I think she's calling you out, dude."

Sheldon frowned at that, and held up a finger, waving it at me tauntingly before turning back to Chloe and slowly stretching his arm out towards her.

I clenched my fist in anger and snapped at him. "Do it and I'll break your fucking finger."

Chloe had been staring at my display of nonchalance with a look of awe and confusion up to this point, so when Sheldon's finger prodded her hard in the chest, she unexpectedly stumbled back and almost slipped off the wooden beam she was precariously balancing on.

That was enough for me to see red. "Don't say I didn't warn you, asshole."

In one swift movement, I charged towards him. Sheldon tried to swing the beer bottle in his other hand wildly in my direction but I dived under his arm, before using my momentum to spring up and kneeing him as hard as I could in the balls. He fell to the ground clutching his groin. Now that he was momentarily stunned by the pain, and before he could even register what I was doing, I gripped his wrist with one hand before grabbing the finger that he used to prod Chloe with, then true to my word I yanked it back with as much force as I could muster. Admittedly, I relished the sound his finger made as it broke, and the scream of agony that erupted from his drunken mouth, a little too much.

Now that he was sat there clutching his broken finger instead of his groin, I figured he was sufficiently incapacitated for the moment and looked up, realizing I was face to face with Chloe, who had finally recognized who I was up close.

Chloe's mouth hit the floor as she stared at me in disbelief. "Max?!"

I grinned at her. "Fancy seeing you here, Chloe. You know, I did warn him. Nobody touches my Captain."

Unfortunately, that conversational distraction was enough of an opening for Peter to decide he wanted to get involved and he grabbed me from behind, squeezing and lifting me into the air, threatening to throw me down into the mosh pit below for what I did to Sheldon. There's no way I could risk rewinding with him holding onto me, even if it might be possible to push through that painful barrier again, but thankfully Chloe came to my rescue. In the blink of an eye, she swiped at his head with her own empty beer bottle. It didn't smash, but the force of the blow was enough for him to release me and stagger away holding his head where the bottle had impacted.

I coughed and turned back to Chloe. "Thanks for that."

She shrugged. "Nobody touches my First Mate either."

I quickly glanced around to take stock of the situation.

Peter was still shaking the stars out of his eyes, while Sheldon smashed his beer bottle against a wooden pillar and slowly got back to his feet with a look of absolute fury on his face.

We were both still cornered with them blocking our escape and now we'd lost the element of surprise.

Sheldon stepped forward with his uninjured hand holding the broken beer bottle, aiming directly at me, "You're gonna die for that, you bitch!"

I was about to rewind since I didn't want to risk experiencing my first time at being stabbed just yet or god forbid, having to watch Chloe get stabbed instead as I felt her starting to edge in-front of me, when a shout finally came from the staircase across the room. "Hey assholes!"

I turned to look in the direction the voice came from and froze.

There stood Rachel Amber in the flesh, wearing her bad-ass punk rocker outfit, just like future Chloe had said she would. Better late than never, I suppose.

Chloe's jaw dropped for the second time tonight. "Rachel?!"

Rachel took in the scene with a swift look around the room and now that the two skeevy douchebags were temporarily distracted by her arrival, she waved us towards her. "Come on!"

We didn't need telling twice. I quickly shook off my doe-eyed look, then Chloe and I scrambled through the gap between Sheldon and Peter before they could grab us, sprinting back down the stairs with Rachel. They quickly gave chase though, and followed us down. Luckily, Frank noticed what was happening and stepped in, allowing all three of us to give them the middle finger before we rounded the corner and slipped into the next room, pushing through the crowd towards the front of the stage, where we immediately began thrashing to Firewalk without a care in the world.

Max had stayed silent for that whole confrontation, partly no doubt because she was probably terrified of how casually and viscously I'd decided to break Sheldon's finger.

I couldn't risk speaking to her out loud in-front of Chloe and Rachel without looking like I was crazy, so I directed my thoughts to her instead. _"Max, I'm sorry for what you just saw. I know we'll need to talk about, well, everything. But for now, just enjoy the rest of the night. Those guys won't be an issue anymore. The floor is yours. Have fun thrashing to Firewalk and reuniting with Chloe, you've earned it."_

Then I relaxed and allowed her to sit back in the driver's seat, not saying a word for the rest of the night.

Thanks to all the timelines I'd gone through trying to save Chloe, I knew my overprotectiveness was dialed up to 11. I had spent much of the boredom between the important timeline events by learning self-defense techniques and I was pretty capable at kicking ass in a straight fight without relying on my rewind if I needed to. I'd done much worse than a single broken finger, but Max didn't have to know that. Not yet, anyway. Hopefully I wouldn't need to do anything like that again. I just needed to ensure that I integrated Max into Chloe's first meeting with Rachel, no matter what, and it's not like I could let those assholes hurt Chloe. So, a broken finger will have to suffice.

After several hours of dancing the night away with Chloe and Rachel, not to mention drinking, which surprisingly Max also tried to partake in – probably as another consequence of me breaking Sheldon's finger, if I had to guess – the three of us stumbled back outside and began the journey back home.

Halfway down the tracks, Rachel said goodbye and split off to go back to her house which was located in the richer side of town, while Chloe dragged us back to her house, insistent that we sleep in her room for the night. We were too drunk for any serious conversation to happen right now, so the explanation of what the actual fuck we were doing back in Arcadia Bay and why we were at a Firewalk concert would have to wait until morning.

Well, when I say we were too drunk, really I just meant Max. It seems the drunken buzz didn't affect me, so the perception of my senses through Max were still fully functional, even if she was pretty much wasted and could barely stand, which was an interesting side-note of our joint collaboration.

The sight of two drunken teenagers trying to climb onto the roof of Chloe's house would've had anyone breaking out in a fit of laughter, if anyone were to see us, besides myself, that is. Honestly, by the time we'd managed to crawl through Chloe's bedroom window and collapsed onto her bed, it was a miracle David didn't hear us and come barging through the door or something since I knew he was also staying the night.

Max and Chloe, despite initially facing in opposite directions, in all of their drunken exhaustion, they still ended up naturally gravitating towards each other. Just like we did when we slept in the same bed as kids. They both fell asleep within minutes, safe and content in each other's arms. Firewalk was a success, Max and Chloe are reunited once more, and tomorrow is a new day... for all of us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, this is the end of my backlog for this fic. The next chapter is half-finished but I haven't gotten around to completing it yet, I've been a little too distracted over the past couple of weeks with questioning my identity and stuff (on top of the usual crap). The next chapter might be out next week, maybe, but as I said before, I'm not sticking to a weekly schedule from here on out so really it'll come when it comes. I'll see you all whenever that is! :)


	6. Author Update (For All Current Fics)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TLDR: As of 01/03/21 I am officially going on hiatus again. Applies to all ongoing fics. Return date unknown. This chapter will be deleted and replaced when I do. Sorry and see you all whenever that is! <3

Hey everyone, sorry to get your hopes up with a new chapter post but since it's been over a month now without an update being put out for any of my currently ongoing fics, I figured I owed ya'll a quick explanation.

When I began the new year, as I'm sure most of my readers are aware, I planned on ditching the once-a-week update schedule I had going for Pricefield - Time Warriors, in favor of going completely at my own pace; writing and releasing when I was truly ready and happy with a new chapter. Unfortunately, as you're no doubt also aware - I'm incredibly fucking lazy - and without that set deadline forcing me to keep writing after I ran out of the previously written backlogs, it's instead given me more motivation (or in this case, non-motivation) to just... not bother writing. So that lamely explains my month of no new chapters for my fics.

However, as if that wasn't bad enough, my dog had to be put down a few days ago... He's been with me for 13 years of hell and was my rock throughout it all; he was more than my best friend, he was quite literally my entire world and sole reason for existing... without him I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do. So yeah, right now I'm just... numb, and trying my best not to think at all - preferring to keep myself distracted as much as possible - which is probably not healthy, but the alternative is just as worse. I know that writing would probably work as a form of distraction, if it wasn't for the fact that I need to think to actually be able to write anything in the first place, as I'd need to think up plot points, what to write next, how I'm going to present it to you all, etc. So instead, I'm just going to do other things that requires far less brain-power, it's safer that way. A better way to explain it would be that thanks to my depression, it's like there's a massive wall that holds back most of my emotional feelings, though because of the wonderful world of Life Is Strange that wall now has cracks which lets said emotions slowly leak through sometimes; but if I allow myself to think right now, that entire wall would probably come crashing down all at once, and I doubt I'll be able to handle that, especially without my dog here to keep me sane...

So that's why I'm going on a hiatus for now, which applies to all my ongoing fics. I honestly have no idea when I'll return from it, but I will come back, eventually, maybe. Hopefully. If you haven't already, be sure to bookmark my fics and all that stuff so you can keep an eye on my fics for whenever I feel like I'm able to write again without having some sort of breakdown. When I do, I'll delete and replace this chapter with a proper one, so be sure to keep checking back regularly. To all of you who have read my previous and current fics up to now, your continued support really means a lot, thank you for sticking with me for so long despite my erratic behaviour and constant disappearing acts. I hope you'll still be here waiting patiently when I come back. I'll see you soon, much love to you all. Bye for now! <3

~VietnamVet; aka TheRealGuy01 on the LIS Subreddit (which really should be TheRealEnbyGirl01 now tbh, oops lol).


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